¥ Drapers' Dicti m ■I Wmm mm ■ ■ H m i Bui ■ * \ ' u\iaryAnn *$> ciiuxke (T)ecorati\/icArt Qoueftioru STE RL1 N G AND FRAN CINE CLARIS ART INSTITUTE L1BRART •r THE DRAPER'S DICTIONARY. a flftanual of Geytile fabrics : THEIR HISTORY AND APPLICATIONS. By S. WILLIAM BECK. "No true classification of the kinds of out textile manufactures has ever been attempted, though it would, if correctly done, be a most valuable record; and therefore all attempts to give detailed descriptions of the products of our looms are attended -with difficulty and a want of satisfaction to both writers and readers. It is remarkable that a country like ours, more dependent than any other on its manu- factures, has neYer attempted a systematic history of them." — T. C. Archeb : Wool and its Applications. pLoitfum : THE WAREHOUSEMEN & DRAPERS' JOURNAL OFFICE, 148 asd 149, ALDER3GATE STREET, E.C. A 1 PEEFACE. The approval accorded to this work during its passage through the pages of the Warehousemen and Drapers' Trade Journal has been such as to justify its re-issue as a separate volume. The objects held in view during its preparation were briefly these : to reduce the chaos of particulars relating to the history of textile fabrics to an exact study ; to give facts in a handy and convenient form for reference, and only on the faith of recognised authorities ; and to clothe the dry bones of figures and statements with the literature of the subject. How far these aims have been reached the reader must judge. a w. r &> THE DBAPEB.'S DICTIONARY. ABACA. Manilla hemp. A very handsome woody fibre produced in abundaace in the Indian Archipelago, and extensively cultivated in the Philippine Islands.* It is produced from the leaf -stalks of a plan- tain or banana (Musa textilis), and is much used in India in the manu- facture of the finest linens, muslins, and other delicate fabrics. For these the inner fibres of the leaf-stalks are used, the outer fibres being only fit for matting, cordage, and canvas. The varieties are very diverse ; the finest of them command by far the highest quotation in the hemp market. Manilla hats are produced from this material. " M. Duchesne states that the well-known fibrous manufactures of Manilla have led to the manufacture of the fibres themselves at Paris into many articles of furniture and dress. Their brilliancy and strength give remarkable fitness for bonnets, tapestry, carpets, network, hammocks, &c." (Ure, Dictionary of Arts and Manufactures, &c, 1860.) ABB. The eighth quality in sorting wool, between seconds and livery. The yarn of a weaver's warp. AGGBAPES. An old name for hooks and eyes. AIGULET. This word may be found under a wide variety of orthography. Its most common form in literature is Aglet, but we find also, among many other renderings, Aglet (Palsgrave), Aglot, Aiglet (Harl. MSS.), and Aguillette (Cotgrave). Through this latter form we derive it from the French, a tag to a point, and, according to Johnson, that from aiger, sharp ; but its proper root is from the Latin acicula, a diminutive of acus, a point. A tag of a point curved into some representation of an animal, generally of a man (Johnsox). Properly the point fastened on the end of a lace for drawing it through the eyelet-holes, then, like E. point, applied to the lace itself (Wedgwood). In this first sense the word is illustrated by Shakespeare in the Taming of the Shrew, where Grumio says of Petruchio, "He tells you * Of the wild banana, one kind {Musa textilis) grows in vast abundance in some of the most northerly of the Spice Islands. In the great island of Min- danao, in the Philippines, it nils extensive forests. From the fibrous bark, or epidermis, is manufactured a kind of cloth, in frequent use among the natives. It also affords the material of the most valuable cordage which the indigenous products of the Archipelago yield. Chawfurd : Mist, of Archipelago. ALA ( 2 ) ALA flatly what his mind is : why, give him gold enough and marry him to a puppet, or an aglet-baby." "Aglottes of silver fine" are men- tioned in the 25th Coventry Mystery, one of a series of miracle plays preserved in a MS. ascribed to the 15th century. Aigulets have been frequently and often lavishly used as ornaments, particularly from the time of Henry VIII. to that of Charles II., and were not only attached to the ends of points or laces used to fasten various gar- ments, but dangled at the borders of slashes and from caps. In Walker's History of the Irish Bards is printed a MS. from the State Paper Office, in which Sir Anthony St. Leger, Lord Deputy of Ireland in 1 541 , is shown as dressed in * ' a cote of crymosin velvet with agglettes of golde 20 or 30 payer ; over that a greate doble cloke of right crymosin sattin, garded (edged) with black velvet, a bonette with a fether set full of aggylettes of golde." Spenser, in the Faerie Queene (1590), describes a stripling — "A goodly youth, wearing an hood with aglets spread; " and "fayre Belphoebe," " yclad for heat of scorching aire, All in a silken Camus (chemise) lilly whight, Purfled upon with many a folded plight, Which all above besprinckled was throughout With golden aygulets, that glistred bright Like twinckling starres." Sir John Hay ward, the historian, mentions a "gown addressed with aglets esteemed worth £25." They were not, however, always made of precious metals, but of baser materials, and were then, as is shown in early Wardrobe Accounts, used as ornaments to harness, being fixed on with small chains. The name is still used in haberdashery, and denotes round white stay-laces. " He gyueth alwaye hys old point at one end or other some new aglet. But when at his cost is don thereon, it is not all worth an aglet of a good blewe poynte." Sir T. Moke : WorTces, 1557. " And yonder pale-faced Hecate then, the moon Doth give consent to that is done in darkness, And all those stars that gaze upon her face Are aglets on her sleeve, pins on her train." Thomas Kyd : The Spanish Tragedy, 1603. ALAMODE. A silk material a la mode in the 17 th century, originally manufactured in France, but introduced as an industry into this country into 1685, when the revocation of the Edict of Nantes caused multitude of French emigrants — variously estimated as numbering from 300,000 to a million persons — to seek refuge here, to the consider- able advantage of our manufactures. Fairholt says that it was a plain kind of silk, something like lustring, but thick and loosely woven. On the other hand, Chambers, in his Cyclopcedia, 1741, describes it as being thin, light, glossy black silk, not quilled or crossed, chiefly used for women's hoods and men's mourning scarfs. At this date it had quite loBt favour in the eyes of the public after having been previously exten- sively used. An Act passed in the 4th year of William and Mary, 1692, ALA ( 3 ) ALP For the better Encouragement of the Silk Trade in England, prohibited the importation of lustrings and alamodes, alleging that the manufac- ture here had then reached greater excellence than was attained by foreigners, and had become of considerable importance. JiSee Lustring. ALAPEEN. A mixed stuff either of wool and silk or mohair and cotton ; mentioned in Observations on the Wool and the Woollen Manu- facture by a Manufacturer of Northamptonshire, 1739. ALEXANDER. A stuff called Alexander, Bourde de Alisaundre, Burdalisaunder, or Bordalisaunder, with other variations, is frequently- mentioned in old inventories of church furniture, and took its name from Alexandria in Egypt, though not exclusively manufactured there. The Surtees Society's volume for 1858 includes inventories of chantries within the Cathedral Church of York, in which this material is fre- quently mentioned. " An other (vestment) of grene Alexandre, j hyngying afore the alter of Alexander, j corporalia of gren Alexander with flours ; " and other like entries, all of the 16th century. It was known, how- ever, long before that period, for in 1327 Exeter had a chasuble of Bourde de Elisandre of divers colours, and in 1392 Richard Beardsall left as a legacy a piece of burd Alysaunder. The Very Rev. Dr. Rock, in his excellent little work, Textile Fabrics, shows that this was a striped silk. He finds in its full title an indication that this was always its distinguishing characteristic. " 'Bord' in Arabic means a striped cloth ; and we know, both from travellers and the importation of the textile itself, that many tribes in North and Eastern Africa weave stuffs for personal wear of a pattern consisting of white and black longitudinal stripes. St. Augustine, living in North Africa, near the modern Algiers, speaks of a stuff for clothing called ' burda ' in the end of the 4th and 5th century. It is not impossible that the curtains for the tabernacle, as well as the girdles for Aaron and his sons of fine linen and violet and purple and scarlet twice dyed, were wrought with this very pattern, so that in the ' burd Alysaunder ' we behold the oldest known design for any textile." ALNAGE, Aulnage, ell measure ; from the French aune or dine, an ell. All the attempts which our forefathers made for regulating of manu- factures, when left to the execution of any particular officer, in a short time became simply a tax upon commodities, without respect to the goodness thereof, as was most notorious in the case of aulnage, which was intended for a proof of the goodness of the commodity ; and to that purpose a seal was invented, as a signal that the commodity was made according to the statute, which seals, it is said, may now be bought by thousands and put on what the buyers please. (Chambers' Cyclo- paedia, 1741.) See Assize. ALPACA (Auchenia Paco) is the woolly hair of an animal of the camel tribe. There are four varieties of Llamas, or Auchenias, and con- siderable doubt exists as to their proper classification. There are the Llama proper [Auchenia Llama) ; the Alpaca, which is commonly regarded as a domesticated species of the former ; the Vicugnia (A. Vicugnia), and Guanaco (A. Guanaco), which is usually looked upon as the parent stock from which the remainder proceeded. All these have many points b 2 ALP ( 4 ) ALP in common with the camel, but are adapted to traverse the mountainous districts of Chili and Peru, which they inhabit. In general appearance and size they resemble a full-grown deer, but are thoroughly domesti- cated, with the exception of the guanacos, which are found-wild farther south, as far down as the Straits of Magellan. All are gregarious in habit, feeding in flocks frequently from 100 to 200 in number. The wool of the alpaca proper is alone used to any extent in our manufac- tures, although several attempts have been made to utilize that of the vicugnia and guanaco, which are very fine in fibre. Alpaca is imported in ballots, bales of about 70 lbs. weight, and is sorted on arrival into eight qualities, each suitable to a particular class of goods, but all, after being cleansed and combed, are almost exclusively worked up in Brad- ford and its vicinity. Mr. James, in his History of the Worsted Manufacture, gives so full and particular a narration of the rise of our alpaca industry that nothing is left to add. " So early as the year 1807 the British troops returning from the attack on Buenos Ayres brought with them a few bags of this wool, which were submitted for inspection in London ; but," observes Walton, in his work on Alpaca,* " owing to the difficulty of spinning it, or the prejudice of our manufacturers, it did not then come into notice," and for more than twenty years the attempt does not seem to have been renewed, thus depriving for that period the country of the advantage derived from this notable manu- facture. According to the best authorities, the first person in England who introduced a marketable fabric made from this material was Mr. Benjamin Outram, a scientific manufacturer, of Greetland, near Halifax, who, about the year 1830, surmounted, with much difficulty, the obstacles encountered in spinning the wool, and eventually pro- duced an article which sold at high prices for ladies' carriage shawls and cloakings ; but their value arose more from being rare and curious articles than from intrinsic worth. These were, it is well established, quite destitute of the peculiar gloss and beauty which distinguish the alpaca lustres and fabrics of later times, and after a short period the manufacture was abandoned. About the same time as Mr. Outram was weaving goods from alpaca the wool attracted the notice of the Bradford spinners. Messrs. Wood and Walker spun it to some extent for camlet warps used in the Norwich trade. Owing to the cheapness of alpaca wool during the first years of its consumption in England, it was occasionally employed instead of English hog wool for preparing lasting and camlet warps, being spun to about No. 48. The earliest manufacture of the alpaca wool into goods at Bradford appears to have begun under these circumstances. In the commencement of 1832 some gentlemen connected with the trade to the west coast of South America were on a visit at the house of J. Garnett, Esq., of Clitheroe, and on their alluding to the difficulty of meeting suitable returns for goods forwarded to that part of the world, he suggested to them the transmission of alpaca wool, and offered if they would send him a few pounds' weight to ascertain its value for manufacturing purposes. In a few months he received some samples of alpaca wool, which, on the 2nd of October, 1832, he for- warded to Messrs. Horsfall, of Bradford, with a request that they * Walton, On the Alpaca ; its Naturalization in the British Isles con- sidered as a National Benefit. AME ( 5 ) ANG would test its value. Accordingly they fabricated from this wool a piece resembling heavy camlet, which they showed to the Leeds merchants ; but the piece not developing any peculiar qualities of alpaca did not please, so that Messrs. Horsfall were not encouraged to proceed further with experiments. However, in the same year, Messrs. Hoyam, Hall, and Co., spirited merchants, of Liverpool, perceiving the value of the alpaca wool, directed their agents in Peru to purchase and ship over all the parcels of alpaca wool they could meet with, some of which being sent to the Bradford district was spun and manufactured by several parties there. The pieces chiefly fabricated from alpaca in the neighbourhood of Bradford were figures made with worsted warp and alpaca weft, the figure being raised and lustrous like union damasks. These goods were in vogue only for a limited time, for neither the figured nor the plain ones seem to have suited the public taste. Until the introduction of cotton warps into the worsted trade it may be safely averred that the alpaca manufacture had not been developed, and would never have made much progress without being combined with cotton or silk warp, To Titus Salt, Esq., of Bradford, must undoubtedly be awarded the high praise of finally overcoming the difficulties of preparing and spinning the alpaca wool so as to produce an even and true thread, and by combining it with cotton warps, which had then (1836) been imported into the trade of Bradford, improved the manufacture so as to make it one of the staple industries of the kingdom. He has by an admirable adaptation of machinery been enabled to work up the material with the base of ordinary wool, and thus present beautiful alpaca stuffs at a reasonable rate. Every previous attempt had been made, as far as can be ascertained, with worsted warps, with which the alpaca did not easily assort. Attempts have been made to naturalize the alpaca in this country, on the Continent, and in Australia, but with small success. It was urged that as the animal inhabited a region where coarse food only was ob- tainable, and showed in itself a remarkable abstemiousness and hardi- hood, that it would thrive over here in waste lands and moors, and render barren regions such as the Highlands profitable. Early failures were attributed to alpacas having been confined in parks and allowed luxuriant herbage ; but all endeavours have ended alike in failure, though the question at one time excited great interest. In 1844 some articles from the wool of an alpaca wich had been kept at Windsor were made up at Bradford and presented to Her Majesty. AMENS. A stout figured stuff known in the early part of the pre- sent century. ANGORA, Angola. The hair or wool of the Angora goat (Capra Angorensis), an animal rather smaller than the common goat, a native of Asia Minor, where it is still principally reared in the neighbourhood of Angora, a city in the province of Natolia. This textile was first imported into this country under the denomination of Mohair, by which term it is still known. (See Mohair.) Angora in the fleece is of remarkable fine- ness and of a very pure white ; it hangs on the animal in long spiral curls, which, when ready for shearing, nearly touch the ground. From 5 lbs. to 7 lbs. of wool is yielded by each fleece. It is manufactured by the inhabitants of Asia Minor into shawls and other fabrics, which are greatly ANT ( 6 ) APP esteemed in Turkey, the shawls particularly equalling those of Cashmere. Some of the hair is also made into yarn. Formerly it was only allowed to leave the country after being spun, and its export was at one time entirely prohibited. Financial embarrassment has made Turkish con- servatism less exacting, and the rams are now sold for purposes of breed- ing on the common goat, which has been very successful, particularly in Texas and California. Angora is made up here into camlets, imitations of velvet, gimps, and other trimmings. The name is also applied in the trade to mending worsted. In a work published in 1852 on Colonial Sheep and Wools (Sol they), an account is given of the introduction of this textile into England, which had taken place but a short time prior to the issue of the work, and within the author's knowledge. The incidence of this trade, as related by the author, still applies to existing business : — "Within the last two or three years a new texture made of goats' wool has, however, been introduced both into France and this country which calls for particular attention. The texture consists of stripes and checks, expressly manufactured for ladies' dresses, and having a soft feel and silky appearance. The wool of which this article is made is chiefly the wool of the Angora goat. This wool reaches us through the Mediterranean, and is chiefly shipped at Smyrna and Constantinople. In colour it is the whitest known in the trade, and now more generally used in the manufacture of fine goods than any other. There are, however, other parts of Asiatic Turkey from which supplies are received, but in quality not so good as that produced in Angora. After the manufacture of shawls with goats' wool declined in France this raw material remained neglected a long while. About two or three years ago, however, the French made another attempt and brought out a texture for ladies' dresses in checks and stripes, which they call ir poil de chevre.' The warp is a fine spun silk coloured, and the weft Angora or Syrian white wool, which was thus thrown on the surface. This article has a soft feel and looks pretty, but in wearing is apt to cut. The price of a dress of French manufacture has been from £2 10s. to £3 ; but by adopting a cotton warp the same article is now made in England and sold for 15s., and it is found that the cotton warp as a mixture suits the goats' hair best." ANTERXE. A stuff of wool and silk mixed, or of mohair and cotton. {Observations on Wool and the Woollen Manufacture, 1739.) APPAREL. The putting like to like ; a suit ; clothing ; dress (Fr. appareU — pareil, like; L. par, equal, like). (Donald: Chambers's Etymological English Dictionary .) APPRENTICE, literally he who learns (Fr. apprenti — apprendre, to learn ; L. apprehendo, to lay hold of). This custom is of very remote antiquity, and the exact date of its institution cannot be fixed. An Act of 1388 first mentions apprentices, but only incidentally. An Act of Henry VI. declares the binding of City apprentices to have been a City custom time out of mind. As far as can be decided, we may believe that the practice is coincident with the formation of the City Companies — first known as gilds, and their members as gild merchants — established in the 12th century to resist the inroads of feudalism. As these com- APR ( 7 ) APR panies usurped, so far as they were able, local government and became exclusive, gilds of handicraftsmen — craft gilds — were formed, which finally, after a severe struggle, overpowered the earlier gilds. To these craft gilds admittance could only be gained by birth, marriage, or appren- ticeship. Incorporation of the companies commenced in the time of Edward III., when that monarch himself became a member of the Merchant Taylors or Linen Armourers. Elizabeth endeavoured to make apprenticeship universal, proposing even to make poulterers serve the term of seven years, which, with some exceptions, has been the general length of service. The Statute of Apprentices, passed in the 5th year of her reign, enacted that no one could lawfully exercise, either as master or journeyman, any art, mystery, or manual occupation, except he had been brought up therein seven years as an apprentice. This law remained in force until 1814, when it was repealed by 54 Geo. III., except in so far as it reserved the customs and bye-laws of the City of London and other cities, and of corporations and companies lawfully instituted. APRON. Of unsettled etymology. Minshieu proposes Afore one. Skinner, Anglo-Saxon Aforan (Afore). Boucher thinks it "may per- haps be derived from Nappe, whence our word Napery." Mr. Bockett says, "in the North the word is Nappern, conformable to the old orthography," and he derives it from the Fr. naperon, a large cloth. So also Mr. Todd. Lacombe has Appronaire and Apronier (Richardson). A cloth worn in front for the protection of the clothes, by corruption from napron. Still called nappern in the North of England (Halliwell). From old Fr. naperon, properly the intensitive of nape, a cloth, as napkin is the diminutive (Wedgwood). Planche says the apron first appears in an illumination of the time of Edward III., but Fairholt describes an illustration in Strutt's Complete View of the Dress and Habits of the People of England, taken from a MS. in the Sloane Collection, executed in the 13th century, which shows a blacksmith at work in an apron similar in shape to that still worn by men of that class. Chaucer has " barme or lap cloth," from A.-S. barm, the lap or bosom. Aprons of leather are still called barm- &kins in Northumberland, and " dirty as a barm-skin " is current as a proverb in Lincolnshire. Leather aprons seem to have been common to apprentices in the 16th century. In the Second Part of King Henry I V., when Poins has suggested to Prince Henry that they might disguise themselves by putting on "two leather jerkins and aprons," the Prince replies : — "From a god to a bull? a heavy declension! it was Jove's case. From a piince to a prentice ? a low transformation ! that shall be mine." In Whitaker's Craven, under date 1307, is " Pro linen tela ad naperon ns." They have constantly varied in size and length, especially when used by the upper classes rather for show than utility, and have frequently been of very rich materials. Stephen Gosson in his Pleasant Quippes for Upstart Gentlewomen, 1596, inveighs against " These aprons white of finest thrid, So closely tide, so dearly bought, So finely fringed, so nicely spred, So quaintlie cut, so richlie wrought ; Were they in work to save their cotes, They need not cost so many grotes." ARM ( 8 ) ARM Mary Queen of Scots is said to have left over 100 aprons of varied shape and colour. In the early part of the 18th century they were very much worn ; this time of small dimensions, but making up in costliness what they lacked in size. In the Ballad of Hardylznute, published in 1719, is a notice of " An apron set with many a dice Of needlework so rare, Wove by nae hand, as ye may guess, Save that of Fairly fair." They were again very fashionable during the early part of the 18th century. The famous Beau Nash, the autocrat of Bath when it was a fashionable resort as a watering-place, conceived a great aversion to white aprons ; and, says Goldsmith in his Life of Nash, " I have known him on a ball night strip even the Duchess of Q , and throw her apron at one of the hinder benches among the ladies' women, observing that none but abigails appeared in -white aprons." " And the eyes of the both were opened and they sowed figge leves together and made themselves aprons." Bible, 1539.* " Instead whereof she make him to be dight In woman's weedes, that is to manhood shame, And put before his lap a napron white Instead of Curiets and Bases fit for fight." Spenser : Faerie Queene, 1590. " Hold up, you sluts, your aprons mountant." Shakespeare : Timon. " The nobility think scorn to go in leather aprons." Id. : Henry VI. " You have made good worke, You and your apron-men." Id. : Coriolanus. " Now, fie ! how you vex me ! I cannot abide these apron husbands." Middleton : Roaring Girl, 1611. " When he hath found out a fig-leaved apron that he could put on for a cover for his eyes, that he may not see his own deformity, then he fortifies his error with irresolutions and inconsideration, and he believes it because he will." Bishop Taylor. " Fortune in man has some small difference made : One flaunts in rags, one flutters in brocade ; The cobbler apron'd, and tbe parson gown'd, The friar hooded, and the monarch crown'd." Pope : Essay on Man. AEMOZEEN. A stout silk, almost invariably black. "It is used for hatbands and scarfs at funerals by those not family mourners. Sometimes sold for making clergymen's gowns." (Peekins on Haber- dashery. ) An advertisement in the British Chronicle of February, 1763, announces " A Real Sale of Silks. " At the Coventry Cross, Cbandos Street, Coven t Garden. Consisting of a very great assortment of Rich Brocades, Tissues, flowered and plain Sattins, * The rendering of this passage " made themselves breeches" is the distin- guishing value of the well-known " Breeches" Bible. ARR ' ( 9 ) ASB Tabbies, Ducaps, black Armozeens, Rasdumores, Mantuas, &c. Being pur- chased of the Executors of an eminent weaver and factor, deceased, and of another left off trade." ARRAS (It. Arazzi) takes its title from a town of that name in the province of Artois in the north of France, where it was first manufactured. " The Avals were round about appareiled With costly cloths of Arras and of Toure ; In which with cunning hand was pourtrahed The love of Venus and her Paramoure, The fayre Adonis, turned to a flowre; A worke of rare device and wondrous wit." Spenser : Faerie Queene, 1590. " Round about the walls yclothed were With goodly arras of great majesty, Woven with gold and silk, so close and near, That the rich metal lurked privily, As faining to be hid from envious eye." Id. : lb. See Tapestry. ASBESTUS. (Fr. Asbeste ; Ger. asbest.) Sometimes called Mountain Flax, Earth Flax, or Salamander's Wool, a mineral substance of fibrous texture, of which several varieties differing in colour and substance are found, all alike having the property of resisting the action of fire. The ordinary asbestus is a compact mass of filaments, and is found in nearly every country in Europe, including our own (in Cornwall, Anglesey, and Aberdeenshire), as well as in Canada, Greenland, India, and Siberia. Varieties in form occur : sometimes it is found in thin cakes of closely-interlaced fibres (known as Mountain Leather), in small, brittle, curved sticks (Mountain Wood), and in masses woven with cellular openings (Mountain Cork). A more delicate and pliable fibre was called amianthus (Gr. amiantos, undefiled), a name given to it by the Greeks because of its coming out cleansed and pure after being passed through fire. This is found most abundantly in Corsica and {Savoy. By the ancients asbestus cloth was used for enshrouding dead bodies during cremation, so that the ashes of the corpse might be pre- served distinct from the wood composing the funeral pile. M'Culloch says this statement is corroborated by the discovery at Rome, in 1702, of a skull, some calcined bones, and a quantity of bones, all contained in a cloth of amianthus, nine Roman palms in length by seven in width. Its employment in this way was, however, confined to the very richest families, incombustible cloth being very scarce, and fetching an enormously high price (Dictionary of Commerce) . Various applications have been made of asbestus. Paper has been made from it in sufficient quantity to admit of the issue of a book which could defy fire, and its use in this manner for important documents is advocated. The Brahmins of India are said to have used it for the wicks of their perpetual lamps, and it is still employed for a similar purpose in Greenland. Thread, armour, ropes, nets, and when mixed with clay, pottery have all been made from it ; but it has principally been employed in making cloth, and is still manufactured into a material for packing purposes. The process of manufacture is to soak the lumps of fibre for a long time in water, and by repeated washings to separate the filaments from the ASS ( 10 ) BAN earth which binds them together. The threads are then moistened with oil, and, mixed with a small quantity of cotton, are then spun and woven in the ordinary manner, after which the cloth is burnt to destroy the cotton and oil. "By art were weaved napkins, shirts and coats incomsumptible by fire.''' Browne : Vulgar Errors. " The same matter was woven into a napkin at Louvain, which was cleansed by being burnt in the fire." ASSETS. Enough to satisfy (old E. asseth, Fr. assez, L. ad, to, and satis, sufficient). ASSIZE. Literally, assessment. The regulation by law of certain com- modities, more particularly of bread, ale, and cloth. The earliest known notice of any assize is in 1203. The first statute respecting its applica- tion to cloth was passed in 1328, and was called " The Measure and Assize of Cloths of Ray and of Colour," " whereby is directed the length and breadth of those two sorts of cloths, and that the King's Aulneger shall measure them ; and they shall be forfeited to the King if they be short of the following lengths and breadths, viz. : First, the cloths of ray (not coloured) were to be twenty-eight yards in length and six quarters broad. Secondly, the coloured cloths were to be twenty-six long and six quarters and a half wide." Ray means striped, but it is rather puzzling to find mention of goods striped, not coloured. There must have been a recognized width for cloth long before this, for in 1218 the citizens of London paid Henry III. the sum of forty marks, that they might not be questioned for selling a certain sort of cloth that was not full two yards within the list. This Assize was re-enforced by a statute of 27 Edward III., but when it was found that the seizure threatened of defective cloths by a preliminary Act of 1352 had an injurious effect upon trade, the restriction was in the following year so far relaxed that cloths not of assize standard were allowed to be paid for in proportion according to actual measurement. ATLAS. The German, Dutch, Russian, Polish, and Danish for satin is atlas, and Swedish atlash ; but a silk stuff wrought with threads of gold and silver, and known by this name, was at one time imported from India. BAIZE. (Ger. bay, Du. baay, Sw. boj, Fr. bayetta, It. bajetta, Sp. bay eta, Port, bueta baetilha). A coarse woollen stuff now principally manufactured for linings, and generally made in scarlet and green. It was formerly, in a much thinner and finer material, much used for clothing. See Bay. BALE. (Fr. balle, It. balla ; literally a ball of goods.) To sell under the bale or under the cords was once used in France to denote a bargain concluded in bulk, without any sample or pattern being shown. BANDANNAS. Handkerchiefs of silk or cotton in which spots or figures are left in white or some bright colour upon a ground of red or blue. They were originally imported from India, where it has been customary to produce these patterns by tying up the parts of the material which were to remain light, and subject the whole to the necessary dye. During the time of heavy import duties on silk large BAN ( 11 ) BAN quantities were smuggled into this country. Mr . Huskisson, in a speech upon the tariff, said, ' ' I believe it is universally known that a large quantity of Bandanna handkerchiefs are sold every year for exportation by the East India Company. But does any gentleman suppose that these Bandannas are sent to the Continent for the purpose of remaining there? No such thing. They are sold at the Company's sales, to the number of about 800,000 or 1,000,000 a year, at about 4s. each ; they are immediately shipped off for Hamburg, Antwerp, Rotterdam, Ostend, or Guernsey, and from thence they nearly all illicitly find their way back to this country. Mark then the effect of this beautiful system. These Bandannas, which had previously been sold for exportation at 4s., are finally distributed in retail to the people of England at about 8s. each ; and the result of this prohibition is to levy upon the consumer a tax, and to give those who live by evading your law a bounty of 4s. upon each handkerchief sold in this country ." The extraordinary popularity of these goods induced English manu- facturers to try to imitate them. The first method was to print by the ordinary process of blocks, but this failed to produce the clear, clean, sharply-defined lines of the foreign makes. After a time the Indian method was discovered and practised. Many claims have been put forward for the honour of this introduction. The weight of evidence is in favour of Mr. Henry Monteith, of Glasgow, as the first Bandanna prints made in cloths for garments are known to have been produced at Glasgow, and this gentleman is generally admitted to have been the first to use this method in that city. BANK. Generally derived from the Italian banco, a bench (Fr. Sp . banc, A.-S. borne), from the practice of the first money-changers — Jews, who were also money-lenders — to sit on benches in public markets waiting for custom, or because of a table before them on which they counted their money. The tables of the money-changers in the Temple being upset will afford ready testimony to this old custom. The earliest established bank on record is that of Venice, founded in 1171 ; but this was mainly an institution for the maintenance of the credit of the Re- public, and was founded to afford assistance to the Crusades. Bank- ing proper, as we understand it, was not started until the 17th century, when the Banks of Amsterdam (1609), Hamburg (1619), and England (1694), came into existence. An old tract, published in 1676, The Mystery of the New-fashioned Goldsmiths or Bankers Discovered, is quoted by Anderson (History of Commerce), and shows how the practice of banking originated here, recounting former systems of deposit which had been forsaken on account of their insecurity, as we may well believe when we are told that merchants, after Charles I. had forcibly borrowed £200,000 from the amount held in trust for them by the Mint autho- rities, commonly entrusted their cash to the keeping of their clerks and apprentices. When the civil war broke out these clerks and apprentices took to running off to the ranks, and naturally did not leave behind the money they held. Merchants then, about 1645, turned to the gold- smiths, who until then had only followed the business proper to their trade; but now, says the author, "this new banking business soon grew very considerable. It happened in those times of civil commo- tion that the Parliament, out of the plate and from the old coin brought into the Mint, coined seven millions into half-crowns ; and there being BAN ( 12 ) BAN no mills then in use at the Mint this new money was of very unequal weight, sometimes twopence and threepence difference in an ounce ; and most of it was, it seems, heavier than it ought to have been in proportion to the value in foreign parts. Of this the goldsmiths made naturally the advantage usual in such cases by picking out or culling the heaviest and melting them down and exporting them. It happened, also, that our gold coins were too weighty, and of these also they took the like advantage. Moreover, such merchants' servants as still kept their masters' running cash had fallen into a way of clandestinely lend- ing the same to the goldsmith at fourpence per cent, per diem, who, by these and such like means, were enabled to lend out great quantities of cash to necessitous merchants and others, weekly and monthly, at high interest ; and also began to discount the merchants' bills at the like or a higher rate of interest. Much about the same time they began to receive the rents of gentlemen's estates remitted to town, and to allow them and others who put cash into their hands some interest for it if it remained but for a single month in their hands or even a lesser time. This was a great allurement for people to put their money into their hands, which would bear interest till the day they wanted it. And they could also draw it out by one hundred pounds or fifty pounds, &c, at a time as they wanted, with infinitely less trouble than if they had lent it out on either real or personal security. The consequence was that it quickly brought a great quantity of cash into their hands, so that the chief or the greatest of them were now enabled to supply Cromwell with money in advance on his revenues, as his occasions required, upon great advantages to themselves." It will be readily recognized that banking in these days of its infancy was very similar to its present growth. From Bank we derive BANKRUPT, i.e., one whose bank, bench, or place of business is broken up. Its etymology, however, has been variously construed, The generally-accepted derivation is through Bank and L. ruptus, broken. But it has also been given from Bank and rotto, rotten, and from Bank and route, vestigium, trace, implying that all trace of the bankrupt's place of business had disappeared, as the bankrupt in olden times did in person if he were wise. The tender mercies of creditors are some- times cruel, and in barbarous times defaulters were barbarously treated. An old Eoman law allowed them to be cut in pieces and divided pro rata between creditors, but no record of this punishment having been carried into effect is known. Selling the debtor, and sometimes his wife and family, to obtain a dividend is an expedient of more modern times, known in Kussia and some parts of Asia. Bankrupts in this country formerly liquidated their debts by an imprisonment of idle- ness. This foolish law was only repealed in 1S69. The "Act for the Abolition of Imprisonment for Debt " then passed remained, and still remains, practically inoperative. The first law dealing with bankrupts in England was passed in 1543, and enacted that "The Lord Chancellor, Treasurer, &c., shall take order with bankrupts' bodies, lands, and goods, for the payment of their debts." In the thirteenth year of Elizabeth's reign another law ex- plained who were to be deemed bankrupts, and complained of the great increase in their number at that time ; but it was considered quite an BAN ( 13 ) BAXJ alarming circumstance when the number of bankruptcies reached 200 in 1713, the average for many years prior to that date having been forty. BANKERS OF VERDURE. An item relating to stuffs found in ancient tariffs. Jamieson supposes Bankers to be a corruption of banck- were, Teutonic for tapestry, and quotes Cotgrave, "Fr., banquier, a bench cloth, or a carpet for a forme or bench." Those in question would probably be of a green colour. They were undoubtedly some description of tapestry for hanging in halls, for in 1382 Richard II. allowed, among many other articles of household furniture, "two blue bancals of tapestry work," and "two great bancals for a hall," to be shipped at Bristol, free of all customs dues, for the use of the Pope. BARRAS. A coarse kind of cloth ; sack-cloth (Wright). A coarse linen fabric originally imported from Holland. Dutch Barras is men- tioned in a charter of 1640 granted by Charles II. to the City to secure the rates of Scavage, Paccage, and Balliage, which ' ' our well-beloved the Mayor and Commonalty and Citizens of the City of London" had previously exercised and enjoyed. BARREGE. An open fabric resembling gauze, but more open in texture and stouter in thread. It was made of various materials, but is best known as made of silk warp and worsted weft. When it became fashionable it was imitated in all-wool, and subsequently cotton warps were used. The stuff " takes its name from the district in which it was first manufactured, the especial locality being a little village named Aroson3, in the beautiful valley of Barreges. It was first employed as an ornament for the head, especially for sacred ceremonies, as baptism and marriage. Paris subsequently became celebrated for its barreges " (Ure). BASTARD. A cloth presumably imitating a more expensive mate- rial made in this country in the time of Richard III. Thus a bastard sword had "the edge and point rebated," i.e., turned back. "Basterfc fringes " are also mentioned : fringes of copper or gilt parchment cut in stripeSi copying gold fringe. To a lace of this description Butler alludes in Hudibras — " Not with a counterfeited pass Of golden bough, but true gold lace." BAUDEKIN", Baldakin, Baudkyn. A very rich silk woven with gold (Du Cange). A rich cloth, now called brocade. The name is said to have been;derived from Baldacus, Babylon, whence it was origi- nally brought (Blount). This was at one time a widely-known fabric, and mention of it is frequently made by mediseval writers. That it was at first woven with a warp of gold thread is indisputable ; but the name came afterwards to be applied to rich shot silks, and finally even to plain silken webs. Baldak, from which the name comes, was Bagdad, in Mesopotamia (not Babylon, as given by Blount), a city once pre-eminent for its manufacr tures and dyes. It was introduced here in the 13th century ; but, in the opinion of Strutt, "was probably known upon the Continent before it was introduced into this kingdom, for Henry III. appears to have been the first English monarch that used the cloth of baudekin for his ves- ture. " The occasion on which it first appears in history was when that BAY ( 14 ) BAY monarch knighted William of Valence, in 1247. In 1259 "the master of Sherborn Hospital in the north bequeathed to that house a cope made of the like stuff: l de panno ad aurum scilicet baudekin.' " Dr. Rock, who quotes this entry, calls attention to the fact that textiles of golden threads were usually termed cklatoun throughout Western Europe, and that by this name and baudekin such fabrics were indis- criminately known until the term cklatoun dropped out of use. Remem- bering this, the reader will more readily understand several otherwise puzzling passages in our old writers, as well as in the inventories of royal furniture and church vestments {Textile Fabrics). From this word is said to come baldaccJiino, a canopy used in Italian churches, origi- nally made of baudekin, or stuff of Baldak. In the Lay b: Freine, a poem translated into English in the time of Henry VI. , is " She took a rich baudekine, That her lord brought from Constantine, And lapped the little maiden therein ;" and in the Romance of King Alexander, another early poem, the mate- rial is shown as a hanging : " All the city was by-hong Of rich baudekins." "A piece of baudekyn of purple silk" is valued at 33s. in an inven- tory of the Wardrobe of Henry V., and another piece of "white baudekyn of gold" is priced at 20s. the yard. By an Act of 12 and 14 Edward IV. it was ordered that cloths of baudkyn, with other rich stuffs then being in the kingdom, and offered for sale, should be sealed with the seals of the collectors of the subsidy of tonnage and poundage. This shows that the material by this time was getting into more general wear. In the inventory of the effects of the same monarch, baudekyns of silk are valued at 33s. 4d. the piece. Probably the manufacture was afterwards started in Europe, for amongst the apparel of Henry VIII. is " green baudekin of Venice gold," as well as " blue, white, green, and crimson baudekyns with flowers of gold," and it had now become a considerable article of commerce, for an Act of 1512 (4 Henry VIII.) which regulates the sealing or stamping at the Custom House of cloths of gold and silver, of bawdekin, velvet, damask, satin, sarcenet, tartron, camblet, and every other cloth of silk and gold, states that sometimes 3,000 or 4,000 pieces of these materials were imported in one cargo. After this period the stuff is not distinctly mentioned, but is merged in the generic term of cloth of gold. BAYS. Once an article of considerable importance in our manufac- tures very similar to the baize now made, but slighter. Bays, bayze, and baize are all used in records as pertaining to this material, which was first introduced here in 1561. Hasted in his History of Kent, 1797, says, '* Those of the Walloon 'strangers' who came over to England and were workers on serges, baize, and flannel fixed themselves at Sand- wich, at the mouth of a haven, where they could have an easy com- munication with the metropolis and other parts of the kingdom. The Queen, in her third year, 1561, caused letters patent to be passed under her great seal, directed to the mayor, &c, of Sandwich to give liberty to certain of them to inhabit that town for the purpose of exercising their manufactures, which had not before been used in England." The "BAY ( 15 ) BAY cruelties of the Duke of Alva in the Netherlands drove a number of weavers to this country, as is related in the History of Britain,* 1670. " The Queen (Elizabeth) gave a courteous reception to such of the French, as were forc'd, on the score of religion, to fly their country. The same she did to the Netherlanders, who flock'd to England in vast multitudes (in 1568) ; as a retreat from the storm of the Duke of Alva's cruelties practis'd against 'em ; she gave them the liberty of settling themselves at Norwich, Colchester, Sandwich, Maidstone, and Southamp- ton, which turned to the great advantage of England, for they were the first that brought into the nation the art of making those slight stuffs call'd Bays and Says and other Linnen and Woollen-cloths of the same kind." This manufacture principally settled at Colchester and its vicinity, and for a long period flourished exceedingly. Camden, in his Brittania, 1610, says of Sudbury, " Neither would it take it well at this daie to bee counted much inferior to the townes adjoyning, for it is populous and wealthy by reason of clothing there." Another immigration of weavers, driven to England through the sack of Antwerp in 1585, gave afresh stimulus to this manufacture. About a third part of the manufacturers and merchants who wrought and dealt in silks, damasks, taffeties, bayes, sayes, serges, stockings, &c, accord- ing to Anderson {History of Commerce) settled here, though it is, as far as the bay manufacture is concerned, erroneously added, ' ' because England was then ignorant of those manufactures." A dispute occurred in the following reign as to whether bays with other stuffs were liable to duty, and the judges gave their decision in a certificate (June 24, 1605), which is by Lord Coke in his 4th Institute, "We are resolved that all new-made drapery, made wholly of wool, as frizadoes, bays, northern dozens, northern cottons, cloth rash, and other like drapery, of what new name soever, for the use of man's body, are to yield subsidy and alnage." The use of the phrase " new-made drapery " is deemed sufficient by Mr. Planche to conclude that bays were then still con- sidered a novelty, but new drapery and old drapery for long after this period were applied to classes of stuffsf , and rather marked the different textiles known respectively before and after the irruption of the * A composite history to which Milton contributed a portion. f Indeed, although the phrases " new drapery" and "old drapery" often occur it is hard to give an exact definition of either. Lewis Roberts, in the Treasure of Traffihe, 1641, mentions " Sarges, Perpetuanoes, Bayes, and sundry other sorts comprehended under the name of new drapery," while Misselden, another writer of the same period, in a tract entitled the Circle of Commerce, says, " By the old (draperies), are understood- broadcloths, bayes, and kersies ; by the new perpetuanoes, serges, says, and other manufactures of wool." During the controversy which culminated in this case a document was presented to the Privy Council by the weavers of Norwich, which affords much curious information as to the manner of weaving and characteristics of stuffs, and is well worthy a place here. The reader could not get a more com- prehensive view of early stuffs, but must be warned against placing too much belief in ex parte statements, which are not invariably consistent, although undoubtedly very valuable. The MS., which is still preserved in the British Museum, is thus entitled : Allegations on behalf of the worsted weavers that the stuffs called new draperies, or of new invention, are worsted cloths, and ought to be contained within the government of 7 Edw. IV., chap. I. " That the stuffs of new invention do not vary from the materials of the BAY ( 16 ) BAY Flemings. Anderson says, "This manufacture of bayes, together with those of sayes, and other slight woollen goods, are what is usually called the new drapery, as being introduced into England so much later than the old drapery of broad cloth, kersies, &c." Shortly after the manufacture was considerable enough to make a part of the export trade, for in 1634 the Company of Merchant Adventurers prevailed on Charles I. to issue a proclamation, forbidding the exportation of "any white cloths, coloured cloths, cloths dyed and dressed out of the whites, Spanish cloths, baizes, kerseys, perpetuanoes, stockings, or any other English woollen commodities" to any towns in Germany or the Netherlands but those where a staple of this company was fixed. Bays are mentioned in the Map of Commerce, 163S, as forming an export with nearly every trading company then in existence. A manuscript preserved in the Lansdown Collection, and dated 1592, gives particulars of what manner of fabrics these early bays were, and their estimated value. Bayes, double, poize (weight) about 32 lbs., valued at . . . . ..£400 Bayes, middle or 60 Bayes, about 30 lbs. None entered by that name in the Custom House. Bayes, single, poize, about 26 lbs., valued at . . . . . . ..200 worsteds, nor from the texture, but varying according to tbe will and art of the workman, sometime in one kind and sometime in another, as most other trades manual do, to make the same more vendible, and to that purpose do also give thereunto new names ; yet, that variance of art and appellation doth not disaffirm, hut that it still remains as a species of this genus, one of the kinds thereof, and so worsted cloth. " In demonstration thereof, a buffyn, a catalowne, and the pearl of beauty, are all one cloth ; a peropus and paragon all one ; a saye and pyramides all one ; the same cloths bearing other names in times past. The paragon, peropus, and philiselles may be affirmed to he double chambletts ; the difference being only the one was double in the warp, and the other in the weft. Buffyn, catalowne, and pearl of beauty, &c, may be affirmed single chambletts, differing only in the breadth. The say and pyramides may also be affirmed to be that ancient cloth mentioned in the same statute, called a bed; the difference only consist- ing in the breadth and fineness. "For further demonstration the cloth denominated the worsted, and the cloth called the bed, for the fashion and working were all one, being both of the same draught in the hevill, and both alike wrought with four treadles, yet the one was a fine and thick cloth, and the other a coarse and thin, and differed as much in vein as a coarse buffyn from a fine pyramides. " To make of this worsted a stamin was but to make it thinner and narrower in the stay ; to make the bed a say which served for apparel was to make the same much narrower and finer ; this cloth hath continued its name and fashion till this day ; but now lately by putting the same into colours, and twisting one-third of one colour with another colour, being made narrow, it is now called pyramides. "From worsted are derived, in another line, other cloths. A worsted was wrought with four treadles ; to make thereof a bustian is to weave with three of the same treadles ; to make it single is to use the two left-foot treadles ; to make this a philiselle, a peropus, a paragon, or a buffyn is but to alter the breadth, and to make them double, treble, or single in the striken ; and to make this buffyn a catalowne is to twist a thread of one colour with a thread of another colour, and strike it with another colour; to make the same a pearl of beauty is to make it striped, by colours in the warp, and tufted in the striken." BEA ( 17 ) BEA In the Booh of Rates of Charles II., compiled in 1671, " as a guide in estimating the value of the articles and rating them accordingly," Bays of Florence are shown at £1 5s. per yard under "Merchandise In- wards." Among the exports are the following items, which afford some idea of the relative qualities of foreign and home manufactures : " Bays, Barnstaple, coarse, of 20 lbs. weight and under, the Bay .. £0 12 6 Bays, Manchester or Barnstaple, fine, and all other single Bays, not exceeding 34 lbs. weight, the piece 100 Double Bays, the piece, in weight from 34 lbs. weight to 60 lbs. weight 2 Minikin Bays, containing in weight from 60 lbs. weight to 90 lbs. weight, to pay as three single Bays .. .. .. . ■ ..300 And if they contain above 90 lbs. weight and not above 112 lbs., to pay all duties as for single Bayes, and no more." As showing the retail value of the material, we find in 1578 7f yards of " blewe and blacke bayse " costing 15s. 4d. ; in 1622, "three yards of scarlet bayse" 18s. ; and two years later an entry of " six yards of ash- coloured bayes " 15s. This latter price — half-a-crown a yard, appear- ing in the Household Books oj Lord William Howard, was the average value of ordinary bays ; the other item of scarlet bays, from the same source, would bear so long a price because of its colour. "Double bays " are also shown in the same accounts at 4s. 6d. the yard. " He (Sir Thomas Clifford) in our going, talked much of the plain habit of the Spaniards, how the King and Lords themselves wear but a cloak of Col- chester bayze, and the ladies' mantles in cold weather of white flannell, and that the endeavours frequently of setting up the manufactory of making these stuffs there have only been prevented by the Inquisition." Pepys : Diary, February 24, 1666-7. What the manufacture became in the following century, as well as the channels of its trade, is fully shown by Chambers in his Cyclopaedia, 1741 : " Bay, a kind of coarse open woollen stuff having a long nap, sometimes frized on one side, and sometimes not frized, according to the uses it is intended for. It is made chiefly in Colchester, where there is a hall called the Dutch Bay Hall or Raw Hall. " None shall weave in Colchester any hay known by the names of four-and- fifties, sixties, sixty-eights, eighties, or hundred bays, but within two days after weaving shall carry it to the Dutch Bay Hall, to be viewed and searched, that it may appear whether it be well and substantially wrought before it be carried to be scoured and thicked : no fuller or thicker to receive such bay before it have been stamped or marked at the said hall. 12 Car. 2, c. 22. " Formerly the French as well as Italians were furnished with bays from Eng- land ; but of late the French workmen have undertaken to counterfeit them, and set up manufactures of their own ; and that with success, especially at Nismes, Montpellier, &c. " The export of bays is very considerable to Spain, Portugal, and Italy. Their chief use is for linings, especially in the army ; the looking-glass makers also use them behind their glasses, to preserve the tin or quicksilver ; and the case makers to line their cases." BEAD. See Bugle. BEARER. An ancient form of " dress improver," or bustle. Randal Holmes, in his Academy of Armoury, 1688, includes bearers amongst c BEA ( 18 ) ^^ BEA other " things made purposely to put under the skirts of gowns at their, setting or at the bodies, which raise up the skirt at that place to what breadth the wearer pleaseth, and as the fashion is." Something of the kind was, however, found necessary even at an earlier period. The Monk of Glastonbury, writing in the reign of Edward I., says, " They wered such strait clothes, that they had long fox tails sewed within their garments to holde them forth." BEARING CLOTH. The prototype of our christening robe; a cloth or mantle, often richly embroidered, with which an infant was covered when taken to church to be baptized. " Here's a sight for thee ; look thee, a bearing cloth for a squire's child ! Look thee here ! Take up, boy." A Winter's Tale. In 1623, " 5 yeards of damaske to make a bearing cloth " is bought at a cost of £3 6s. 6d.; and in addition "for taffetie to lyne it," 328.; and for lace to it, eleven ounces, 57s. 6d. BEAUPERS. A stuff under this denomination is shown among the imports in the Book of Rates of Charles II., 1675, and there valued at £1 5s. for "the peece containing 24 or 25 yards," but no other men- tion of such a material can be found. BEAVER. (A-S. be/or, beofer ; Ger. biber ; Dan. baever ; L. biber). A beautiful fur once used exclusively in the manufacture of hats, and now having a limited sale for articles of dress. Two kinds of hair cover the original felt ; the outer one hard and rigid, of a grey colour, with reddish brown ends ; and the other soft, delicate, and of a silvery hue. The first is plucked out, and the skin then shorn and dressed for use ; the fur, when finished and ready for sale, much resembling that of the expensive South Sea otter. About forty years ago its employment in hat making received a severe check, owing to the introduction of silk for the purpose ; and with the decline in the value of this, its staple trade, the tide of the prosperity of the Hudson's Bay Company began to ebb. Beaver hats have been worn by both sexes, but most commonly by men, with whom the fashion of wearing them began. In an inventory of the effects of Sir John Fastolfe, 1459, is shown "a hatte of bever, lined with damaske." In the Canterbury Tales of Chaucer (1328-1400), the merchant wears 11 On his head a Flaundrish bever hat." Philip Stubbes, the satirist of fashions in the days of Elizabeth, men- tions hats " of a certain kind of fine hair ; these they call bever hats, of twenty, thirty, and forty shillings apiece, fetched from beyond the sea, whence a great sort of other vaneties do come." (The Anatomie of Abuses, 1585.) In 1633 we find "one beaver hatt for my ladie" (William Howard) cost three pounds. Beaver was also applied to a helmet, but more generally to the movable face-guard attached to it. Shakespeare uses the word in both senses : *' I saw young Harry with his beaver on." Ilenry IV. , Part I. " Their beavers down, " Their eyes of fire sparkling through sights of steel." Ilenry IV., Tart II. See Castob. BEN" ( 19 ) Bill . , i , i *- BENGAL STRIPES. Striped ginghams, so called from having been originally brought from Bengal, and first manufactured in this country at Paisley. BERGAMO T. A common tapestry, made of ox and goats' hair with cotton or hemp, believed to derive its name from having been first produced at Bergamo, in Italy. BERLIN WOOL. Known also as German wool, which sufficiently indi- cates the source whence we derive it. A material for working in needlework a kind of improved sampler. For some time after its intro- duction it was wonderfully popular, although it was at first ' ' con- sidered by many connected with the trade that the expense attending the , preparation and dyeing would render it of too high a price to be brought into common use, but the perseverance of a few wholesale houses progressively overcame the difficulty, and, for several years past, the quantity consumed in private families in the production of various articles for useful and ornamental purposes, has been immense, at the same time giving employment to very many industrious females." (Per- kins on Haberdashery.) BIGGON, Biggin. A kind of skull cap with ears. It was once in common wear for men. In Pierce Pennilesse's Supplication to the Devil, a severe social satire by Thomas Nash, published in 1592, we find one of the characters — a usurer — wearing upon his head "a filthy coarse biggin, and next it a garnish of nightcaps, with a sage button cap." It came afterwards to be exclusively used for children, principally with the idea that it assisted nature in closing the sutures of the skull. In 1639 a masque, entitled Salmacida Spolia, was acted at Whitehall, in which appeared "a nurse and three children in long coats with bibs, biggins, and muckenders." Shakespeare appears to use the word for any kind of nightcap, and we may assume that it was once in some form a dis- tinguishing part of the costume of a barrister, for in Jasper Mayne's City Match, 1639, there is mentioned — " One whom the good Old man his uncle kept to inns of court, And would in time ha' made him barrister, And raised to the sattin cap and biggon." BILL, literally a sealed paper, from low Latin bulla, a seal. BIRRUS, Burreau, Burellas. A coarse species of thick rough woollen cloth used by the poorer classes in the middle ages for cloaks and exter- nal clothing Strtjtt. The Exchequer records lor 1272 contain a notice of a theft having occurred at Winchester in the preceding reign of some Irish cloth, some cloth of Abingdon, and some cloth of London, called burrell. In a ballad against the Scots, of the time of Edward II., mention is made of " a curtel of burel." Ritson, in whose collection of Ancient Songs the ballad is printed, defines burel as " coarse cloth of a brown colour." From an entry in the Statutes of the order of Cluny (twelfth century), by which the monks of the order were forbidden to wear "pretiosos burellos" with other stuff, Mr. Planche infers that a finer quality had formerly been made. M. le Due states that tablecovers were made of it ; whence the word bureau. c 2 BLA ( 20 ) BLA Bureau, bare, dark brown, and that from the Latin burrus, dark red. Thus, too, a cloak anciently made of red wool is said to have been called birrus on that account. BLANKET. A woollen cover, soft and loosely woven, spread com- monly upon a bed over the linen sheets for the procurement of warmth. Johnson. The name of this material, now commonly applied to the articles made from it, is generally supposed to be derived from its maker, one Thomas Blacket, or Blanket, of Bristol. This view is still occasionally given with " all the pomp of circumstance." It was so put forward in a little book entitled Words and Places, by Isaac Taylor, 1846 ; but a notice of this work in the Quarterly Review of that year — a notice which must have made Mr. Taylor feel very uncomfortable — contemptuously regards this tradition, declaring that — " If this be so, Mr. Blacket must have lived a good while ago, and his goods must have early acquired an extensive foreign sale. Richelet tells ns, Onpaioit autrefois les JRegens de V Universite moitie en argent, et moitie en etoffe de laine blanche dont Us faisoient des chemisettes, que Von appelloit ' blanchet.' " The word occurs, too, among the names of stuffs which the nuns of Fon- tevraud were permitted to wear. The form ' blanketus ' meets us exactly in its present sense in a license or Order in Council to the officers (oddly enough) of the Port of Bristol, permitting the Pope's collector to export certain house- hold goods in the year 1382 ; among these are enumerated * quinque paria linthia minnm et duos blanketos pro uno lecto ; ' and again, ' quatuor strictas tunicas de blanketo.'' One of the quotations given by Ducange is from a mo- nastic rule of the date of 1152, where certain clothing is ordered to be made ' de blancheto.' In Palsgrave's curious ' Esclarcissement de la langue Fran- caise,' composed in the time of Henry VHL, 'blanket cloth ' is represented in French by ' Blanchet.' The name evidently came from the absence of colour." In this sense, through the Fr. blanchette, the derivation is generally accepted, and in truth is old enough to have prevented any other ren- dering. Cotgrave has " Fr. blanchet, a blanket for a bed, also white woollen cloth. Blanchet, whitish." In The Adventures of Arthur at the Tamewathelan, a romance of the fourteenth century, published by the Camden Society, a lady is described as wearing a belt " Beten (inlaid) with besants, and buckled full bene (well). Of blenketswith birks full bold." The editor of this gives blanket as "plunket, a white cloth or stuff," which Mr. Fairholt, who quotes the poem very fully, apparently accepts. Mr. Planche" also pleads for plunket being derived from, and similar to blanket, a conjecture certainly not warranted by circum- stances. (See Plunkett.) Another mention of blanket occurs in an Act of 37 Edward III., which forbids " plowmen, carters, shepherds, and such like, not having forty shillings value in goods and chattels," from wearing any " sort of cloth but blanket and russet lawn of twelve pence, and shall wear girdles or belts ; and they shall only eat and drink suitable to their .stations." So much for the one theory. On the other side it may be stated that a Thomas Blanket, one of three Flemish brothers who early promoted the making of cloth in Bristol, was in 1340 ordered by a local court to pay BLE ( 21 ) BLE -a heavy fine "for having caused various machines for weaving and making woollen cloths to be set up in his houses, and for having hired weavers and other workmen for this purpose." It is also to the point that Bristol was not only a thriving port in the fourteenth eentury, but had also considerable textile manufactures. In old wills are found many items of interest relating to bed furni- ture, in which blankets appear prominently. In 1533 " two pair of blanketts " are valued in the will of William Pennyngton, Kt., at 5s. 4d. and eight mattresses at 21s. 4d. Three "hangyngs for bedds of silk" (£3), " a testern and a hanging of sey" (6s. 8d.), "a pare of fustian blanketts " (5s.), ix pylloys of dawne [pillows of down] (7s. 4d.), give us from the same document a very complete picture of the upholstery of a good house in olden times. Blankets of fustian appear to have been common. In the will of Roger Peles, Parson of Dalton-in-Furness, the last Abbot of Furness, a "paire of fustian blanketts " appear priced at 10s. 8d., and sey again appears for bed hangings. We have also here a whyte qwhylte (quilt), iij pyllowbers, ij mattresses, ij cover- letts," vij shetts of lynne cloth, and ij paire of coarse shets, one bowster, one doble shete, and one course shete, to show us how conser- vative we are not only in the appurtenances of our bed-rooms, but in the terms applied to them. Blankets, as we know them, were also anciently in use, for a sum of 20d. was paid in 1618 for " fulling 20 yards of blankstting. " A pair of Spanish blankets cost 27s. about the same time. " Nor heav'n peep through the blanket of the dark to cry, Hold ! hold ! " Macbeth. " The abilities of man must fall short on one side or other like too scanty a blanket when you are abed : if you pull it upon your shoulders you leave your feet bare ; if you thrust it down upon your feet your shoulders are uncovered." Tehple. " Himself among the storied chiefs he spies, As from the blanket high in air he flies.'' Pope : Dunciad* u Insomuch that I fancy had Tully himself pronounced one of his orations with a blanket about his shoulders, more people would have laughed at his dress than have admired his eloquence." Spectator, No. 150. " The like was ne'er in Epsom blankets tost." Dkyden : MacFlechnoe. BLEACHING, from the Fr. blanchir, to whiten. The term was anciently in use. Autolycus, in the Winter's Tale, sings — " The white sheet bleaching on the hedge, With heigh ! the sweet birds, 0, how they sing ! Doth set my pugging tooth on edge ; For a quart of ale is a dish for a king." But at the same time the process was known as whiting. We find " whiting time " spoken of in Shakespeare; and in the Merry Wives oj Windsor allusion is made to the " whitsters " on Datchet Mead. At this time the work of bleaching could only be carried on in the open air in the manner followed from time immemorial, and consequently the summer months alone were available, the operations, if the weather happened to be unfavourable, not being always completed during the time at command. The exposure led to a practice of stealing linen, for preventing which several severe laws were passed from time to time. BLO ( 22 ) BOB For instance, one of 18 George II. enacted that " every person who shall, by day or night, feloniously steal any linen, fustian, calico, or cotton cloth ; or cloth worked, woven, or made of any cotton or linen yarn mixed ; or any thread, linen, or cotton yarn ; linen^or cotton tape, incle, filleting, laces, or any other linen, fustian, or cotton goods, laid to be printed, whitened, bowked, bleached, or dried, to the value of 10s., or shall knowingly buy or receive any such wares stolen, shall be guilty of felony without benefit of clergy." Felony of this degree was at that period punishable with death. Holland early acquired a reputa- tion for bleaching, and it was an ordinary practice to send linens there in the spring and have them returned in the autumn. The first bleachfield known in this country was founded in Haddingtonshire in 1749, after which the industry became firmly established here. The tedious character of the necessary operations, when the manufacture of cotton goods in- creased so vastly through the introduction of successive mechanical im- provements, caused attention to be directed to chlorine, a substance pre- viously discovered in 1774 by Scheele, and first proposed as a bleaching agent by Berthollet in 1786. This was first simply used in solution, bat in 1798 Mr. Tennant, of St. Rollox, Glasgow, produced and patented his bleaching powder by impregnating lime with chlorine, commonly known as chloride of lime. It is a curious commentary on this fact to note that in 1639 a Scotch Act was passed forbidding the use of lime in bleach- ing. Bleaching by chloride is still in extensive use, and allows the buyer of the cheapest calicoes a whiter material than his ancestors- could obtain in costly linens after months of laborious operations. The old system of crofting, as it is called, is yet sometimes followed for fine linens, particularly in the North of Ireland. BLONDE LACE. Blonde laces were first made in 1745, and being produced from unbleached silk, were known as ' ' Nankins " or '"Blondes." BOA. A long serpent-like piece of fur worn round the neck by ladies. A genus of serpents which includes the largest species of serpent, the Boa constrictor. BOBBIN. A reel or spool (Ger. spitzeiikloppel, Du. Mossen, Da. Jcniple-stoJcke, Sw. l-nopelpmner t Fr. fuseanx, It. mazette, trafusole, Sp. bolillos, Port, bilros, Russ. JtokUnschJci). Also, a fine cord in haber- dashery, in which sense the word is very ancient. In 1578 we find " Skotish bobin sylke," and "bobbing" appearing in an inventory of that date in conjunction with twine and thread, plainly denoting its character. BOBBIN-NET is so called from bobbins entering largely into the construction of the machine from which it is produced. The use of machinery for making lace is said to have been first successfully car- ried out by an idle dissipated frame-work knitter of Nottingham, named Hammond. Being once in difficulties, the idea occurred to him, while looking at the broad lace on his wife's cap, that the stocking frame might be so modified as to produce a similar article. He suc- ceeded in making an inferior description of lace, imitating that known as Brussels ground, which he called Valenciennes lace, although it had none of the characteristics of that fabric. This was not the first machine- BOB { 23 ) BOB made imitation of net. Felkin, in his Hosiery and Lace {British Manic- facturing Industries), says — "By making the loops and then the open work, frame-looped net was pro- duced by Frost in 1764. Next a sjpoon tickler (points acting on needles), to cover two needles and remove two loops, was employed by Frost in 1769 making figured net. The twilling machine was among the first on which these and still further modifications were made for producing net, between 1760 and 1780, by Crane, Harvey, and Else in London, and Hammond, Lindley, Holmes, and Frost in Nottingham. It has been said that Hammond first made bobbin-net and an imitation of cushion-lace after seeing some on his wife's cap. By shifting loops variously he made looped net, but nothing more." Hammond's invention is ascribed to 1768. In 1770 a machine was brought from London to Nottingham by Else and Harvey, described as a pin machine, for making single press point net, but not proving suc- cessful was taken to France, where, after undergoing many modifications, it was used in the tulle manufacture. This was the age of experiments, and workmen in their leisure hours employed themselves in forming new meshes on the hand, in the hope of perfecting a complete hexagon, which had hitherto eluded all their efforts to discover. In 1782 the warp-frame was introduced, which is still in use for making warp lace. (McCulloch : Dictionary of Commerce.) This, like the bobbin-net, describes in its name the essential feature of manufacture. The inven- tion of .this machine is ascribed to a Dutchman, named Vandyke, two gentlemen of London, Clare and Marsh, and to Mr. Morris, of Notting- ham. Even with these machines, producing only inferior laces, Not- tingham became, as it still continues, the centre of machine-made lace. In McCulloch's first edition of his invaluable Dictionary it is said that the first attempt to make bobbin-net by machinery was made in 1799 ; that many alterations took place in the construction of the ma- chines, until at length, in 1809, Mr. Heathcote, of Tiverton,* succeeded in discovering the correct principle of the bobbin-net frame, and obtained a patent for fourteen years for his invention ; but in the next edition this is admitted to be an error, and Mr. Heathcote allowed the credit of being the original inventor of this machine. In proof of this, the evidence of Brunei, the engineer, given in a trial in March, 1816, is adduced, where he stated that when Mr. Heathcote had separated one-half of the threads and placed them on a beam as warp threads, and made the bobbin which carried the other half of the warp threads act between those warp threads, so as to produce Buckinghamshire or pillow lace, the lace machine was invented. Heathcote's machines were destroyed by a Nottingham mob in 1816, cansing him to remove to Tiverton. Steam power was applied to the manufacture about this time, but did not come into general use till 1820. On the expiry of the original patent in 1823, when bobbin-net manufacture became quite a mania, all Nottingham began to make lace. McCulloch says, " A temporary prosperity shone * An exceedingly mteresting account of the struggles and progress of this remarkable man, who raised himself by his wonderful inventive power and indomitable perseverance from a lowly estate to a position of wealth and honour, will be found in the little volume of British Manufacturing Industries before cited. This work may also be studied to gain a knowledge of progressive im- provements in machine-made lace. BOD ( 24 ) BOD upon the trade ; and numerous individuals — clergymen, lawyers, doc- tors, and others — readily embarked capital in so tempting a speculation. Prices fell in proportion as production increased ; * but the demand was immense ; and the Nottingham lace frame became the organ of general supply, rivalling and supplanting in plain nets the most finished pro- ductions in France." Fabulous wages were earned during this period. Dr. Ure remarks, • ' that it was no uncommon thing for an artisan to leave his usual calling, and betaking himself to a lace frame, of which he was part proprietor, realize by working upon it 20s., 30s., nay, even 40s. per day. In consequence of such wonderful gains, Nottingham, the birthplace of this new art, with Loughborough and the adjoining vil- lages, became the scene of an epidemic mania ; many, though nearly devoid of mechanical genius or the constructive talent, tormented them- selves night and day with projects of bobbins, pushers, lockers, point- bars, and needles of every various form, till their minds got permanently bewildered. Several lost their senses altogether ; and some, after cherishing visions of wealth, as in the old time of alchemy, finding their schemes abortive, sank into despair and committed suicide." Many improvements have been made on the original machine, which was so complex that sixty movements were required to complete one hole, but its principle remains the same. " Up to the year 1831 little else than plain net and plain quillings had been produced. Means were about this time discovered to purl and brellet-hole the edge of narrow laces, finishing them afterwards with a gimp (or linen thread) by hand. Machines were also invented for spotting, and the ingenuity of man having been applied most indefatigably, means were in 1839 discovered to adapt processes to produce various patterns on the net, which pro- cesses were greatly improved in 1841, so that every description of pattern can be produced. " (Perkins on Haberdashery. ) BODICE. "A pair of bodies " is mentioned in the fifteenth century. Entries occur in the Household Books of Lord William Howard of " 1612. To Mrs. Preston for a pair of French bodeyes for my Ladie, 6s. 6d. 1618. A pair of bodies . . . . . . . . . . . . 3s. Od. 1633. A. payre of boddies 2s. 6d." We get here the derivation of bodice, stays which fit the body close. The term is not so applied in these days, but rather betokens an inner dress- body . In Notes from Black Fryers, 1617, is a notice of their use by men : " He'll have an attractive lace, And whalebone bodies for the better grace." See Corset : Stays. * Progressive value of a square yard of plain cotton bobbin-net : 1842 £0 6 . . . £5 8 ... 4 ... 1 10 1830 . . . ... 2 1818... ... 1 1833 . . . ... 1 4 1821 . . . ... 12 1836 . . . ... 10 1850 4 1856 3 1862 3 Wages of journeymen : 1812 £6 to £13 weekly. 1815 £6 to £8 weekly. 1818 £8 weekly. 1824 £2 weekly. BOD ( 25 ) BOD BODKIN. This word has been derived from bodikin, the diminutive of body, on account of its slenderness, or from the Fr. bouter, to push, and the diminutive hin. It is said to have been originally a small dagger, but the earliest notices we find of it, while certainly allowing the assumption, yet at the same time show it to have been used as a hair-pin, and as the "eyed instrument," as Bailey calls it, with which the name is now alone associated. To give three examples of the same period in differing employment — "You turne the point of your owne bodkin into your bosom." Eup7tv.es and Ms England. 1582. " Hoods, frontlets, wires, cauls, curling-irons, perriwigs, bodkins, fillets, hair." Lyly : Midas, 1592. " In the beginning of the Empire his manner was to retire himself daily into a secret place for one hour, and then doe notbing else but catch flies, and with the sharp point of a bodkin, or writing steel, prick them through ; in so much as when one inquired whether anybodie were with Csesar within, Vibius Crispus made answer not impertinently, 'No; not so much as a flie.' " Holland (1551-1636) : translation of Suetonius. The use of bodkins for warlike purposes seems incongruous enough, but allusions to its use in that manner leave no doubt of its efficacy. The murder of Julius Caesar is particularly mentioned as having been effected by bodkins, — " At last with bodkins dub'd and doust to death, And all his glorie banisb't with his breath." Gascoigne : The Fruites of Warre, 1589. " With bodkins was Caesar Julius Murdered at Rome of Brutus Cassius." The Serpent of Division, 1590. " Since I read Of Julius Caesar's death I durst not venture Into a tailor's shop for fear of bodkins." Randolph : Muses' Loolcing Glass, 1638. And other notices of its bloodthirsty use occur in Sidney, where he says, ' ' Each of them had bodkins in their hands, wherewith continually they pricked him ;" and in Chaucer's Eeve's Tale — " But if he wold be slain of Simekin With pavade, or with knife, or bodkin." Its use as a weapon was continued to comparatively recent times, for the 508th number of the Spectator contains the following illustration : " If I had struck him with my bodkin, and behaved myself like a man, since he won't treat me like a woman, I had, I think, served him right." So Pope, in hia Bape of the Lock, 1712, makes Belinda attack the baron, drawing " A deadly bodkin from her side ; " And then gives a genealogical account of it — " The same, his ancient personage to deck, Her great-great-grandsire wore about his neck, In three seal-rings, which after melted down, Formed a vast buckle for his widow's gown ; Her infant grandame's whistle next it grew, The bells she jingled, and the whistle blew ; Then in a bodkin graced her mother's hairs, Which long she wore, and now Belinda wears." BOM ( 26 ) BO& This was plainly of silver, and as such had many a precedent. Lady William Howard, in 1618, paid lSd. for a silver bodkin, and in D'Urfey's Wit and Mirth ; or, Pills to Purge Melancholy, is — 11 My high commode, my damask gown, My laced shoes of Spanish leather ; A silver hodkin in my head, And a dainty plume of feather." While another form in which they were expensive enough to be aold for presents is found instanced in an old black letter ballad of 1658, entitled The Sorrowful Lamentation of the Pedlars : " Here's garters for hose, and cotton for shoes, And there's a guilt bodkin which none would refuse. This bodkin let John give sweet mistress Jane, And then of unkindness he shall not complain. Then Maidens and Men, come, see ichat you lack, And buy the fine toys that I have in my pack." It is possible that bodkins were originally what are now known as stilettos, and Bailey, in his explanations, seems to bear out this view. Besides its use as an eyed instrument already given, he has also, "A long sort of pin, on which women used to roll their hair," and "A sharp pointed instrument with a handle, to make holes in hard things." BOMBASIN, Bombazin. A sort of slight silken stuff for mourning ; also a crossed stuff of cotton. Bailey. A word, as Vossius thinks, of Eastern origin. Any soft or delicate wool adapted for weaving garments. Richardson. A twilled fabric of silk and worsted. Donald. (Fr., L. , bombycina, silk garments ; Gr. bombyx, the silk- worm. ) The name bombycina represents one of the oldest fabrics known, but in that sense denotes a stuff wholly of silk. The derivation of the modern bombazine frombombyx, the silk- worm, is certainly most worthy of credence, though the word has been shown from " bombax " or "bombix," the ancient name for cotton. Strutt describes bombax as "a sort of fine silk or cotton cloth, well known upon the Continent during the thirteenth century ; but whether it was used so early in this kingdom I cannot take upon me to determine." Bailey, usually trustworthy to a degree, also shows two distinct fabrics under the same title, as above, and in the Voyages, collected and printed by Hackluyt (1582-15S9), occurs a very significant passage : " There ia planted on the one side of the Casigins house a faire garden, with all herbes growing in it, and at the lower end a well of fresh water, and round about it are trees set, whereon bombasin cotton groweth after this manner." There can thus be little doubt that in more recent times two distinct kinds of bombazine have been made. Early bombycines were as certainly of silk. In the 6th century the use of ornaments in silk or bombycine was, under heavy ecclesiastical pains and penalties in case of disobedience, expressly for- bidden by Saint Csesarius, Bishop of Aries, especially in nunneries. The stuff is described by Tibullus as being "lighter than the wind, clearer than glass." Pliny is indignant at its being used as a summer garment, doubtless on account of its unseemly transparency ; and Juvenal does not fail to aim the shaft of his satire against those etFeminate Romans and courtesans who Bhowed a special fondness for this gossamer fabric (DuroNT-AuBLRViLLE : Ornamental Textile Fabrics) . Seneca condemns BOM ( 27 ) BOM those " silken garments, if garments they can be called, which are a protection neither for the body nor for shame," and later, Solinus says, " This is silk, in which at first women, but now even men, have been led, by their cravings after luxury, to show rather than clothe their bodies." This mass of evidence leaves no doubt as to the material of which the original bombycines were composed, a further passage in Pliny being even more precise in detail : ' ' In six months after come the silke worms (bombyces). Siike-worms spin and weave webs like to those of the spiders, and all to please our dainty dames, who thereof make their fine silkes and velvets, form their costly garments and superfluous apparell, which are called bombycina." It is admitted that the manufacture of these materials was first practised in the island of Cos, on the coast of Asia Minor, by Pamphila, the daughter of Plates, but it is not certain whence the silk was obtained. Aristotle declares that " bombykia" was produced by first unweaving the thick stuffs imported to Cos from the East, while Pliny asserts that the bombyx was reared and fostered in the island. However this may be, there is no doubt that we have a more interesting question decided in the identification of the first manufacture of silk in Europe. l Bombazines were first produced in this country in the reign of Elizabeth. We are told, in a History of Norwich by Blomefield, 1768, that "in 1575 the Dutch Elders presented in Court a new work called Bombazines, praying to have the search and seal of them to their use, exclusive of the Walloons, who insisted that all white works belonged to them ; but the Dutch, as the first inventors, had their petition granted." These early bombazines are said to have been of silk and cotton, but the use of cotton in manufactures was not begun until the reign of Charles I. , all previous mention of cotton indicating the employment of wool, so that the modern bombazines of silk warp and worsted weft in all probability closely resembled those of the sixteenth century. In 1800 they are described as spun from wefts of fine Norfolk and Kent wool, the worsted being thrown upon the right side. They were made in two widths of 60 yards each, the narrow about 18 or 19 inches wide being made for the home trade, and the broad, from 40 to 50 inches wide, principally exported. For a long period they were only used in black and for mourning purposes, but were afterwards sold in colours. They were woven gray, that is with silk of the natural colour and afterwards dyed, which would probably explain the claim of the Walloons to a monopoly of their manufacture on account of their being a "white work. " McCulloch says they were first produced at Milan, but gives no authorities in support of the assertion. " Up, and put on a new summer black bombazin suit." Pepys : Diary, May 30, 1668. BOMBAST, Bumbast. Derived from Latin bombax, cotton. A stuffing for garments, which Skinner says was of linen sewed together, with flax between, but apparently used in loose lumps of cotton flock. Phillips, in A New World of Words, 1720, gives Bombast, the cotton plant growing in Asia. The term is used figuratively as signify- ing words of more sound than sense, inflated language, and is thus used by Shakespeare in Love's Labours Lost : BON ( 28 ) BON " We have received your letters, full of love ; Your favours, the ambassadors of love ; And, in our maiden council, rated them At courtship, pleasant jest, and courtesy, As bombast, and as lining to the time." The use of this stuffing was once carried to a ridiculous excess, and excited the wrath of Stubbes, who in his Anatomie of Abuses, 1583, ex- presses an opinion that "there was never any kind of apparel that could more disproportionate the body of a man than these doublets, stuffed with four, five, or six pound of bombast at the least." Holme, in his Notes on Dress (Harl, 4375),* says, "About the middle of Queen Elizabeth's reign, the slops or trunk-hose with-pease-cod-bellied doublets were much esteemed, which young men used to stuffe with rags and other like things, to extend them in compasse with as great eagerness as women did take pleasure to weare great and stately verdingales ; for this was the same in effect, being a kind of verdingall-breeches. And so excessive were they herein, that a law was made against such as did so stuffe their breeches to make them stand out ; whereas when a certain prisoner (in these tymes) was accused for wearing such breeches contrary to law, he began to excuse himself of the offence, and endeavoured by little and little to dis- charge himself of that which he did weare within them ; he drew out of his breeches a pair of sheets, two table-cloaths, ten napkins, four shirts, a brush, a glasse, a combe, and night-caps, with other things of use, saying, Your lordship may understand that because I have no safer a storehouse, these pockets do serve for a roomefor to lay my goods in ; and though it be a straight prison, yet it is a storehouse big enough for them, for I have many things more yet of value within them. And so his discharge was accepted and well laughed at." " Thy bodies bolstered out, With bumbast and with bagges, Thy roales, thy ruffs, thy cauls, thy coifes Thy jerkins and thy jagges." George Gascoigne : The Story of Ferdinando Jeronimi, 1589. BONE-LACE. From bone and lace; the bobbins with which lace is woven frequently being made of bones. Flaxen lace, such as women wear on their linen. Johnson. Bone-lace or bone- worked lace is lace worked, made, or manufactured upon bones. Richardson. Lace worked on bobbins or bones. Halliwell. Fuller in his Worthies of England, 1662, says that much bone-lace " is made in and about Honytoun, and weekly returned to London. . . . Modern is the use thereof in England and not exceeding the middle of the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Let it not be condemned for a superfluous wearing because it doth neither hide, nor heat, seeing it doth adorn. Besides, though private persons pay for it, it stands the state in nothing ; not expensive of bullion like other lace, costing nothing save a little thread, descanted on by art and industry. Hereby many chil- dren who otherwise would be burthensome to the parish prove beneficial to their parents. Yea, many lame in their limbs and impotent in * Quoted by Fairbolt. BON ( 29 ) BON their arms, if able in their fingers, gain a livelihood thereby ; not to say that it saveth some thousands of pounds yearly formerly sent over seas to fetch lace from Flanders." Every respect must be paid to chroniclers who spake of what they knew, but on the same score the date of the introduction of bone-lace, or bone-work, as it was styled in Elizabeth's time, may be assigned to an earlier period than the middle of her reign, since Stow (1525-1605) says that Sir Thomas Wyat, who departed this life in 1541, on one occa- sion had on ' ' a shirt of maile, and on his head a faire hat of velvet, with broad bone-worke lace about it." The making of bone-lace was estab- lished in Honiton even earlier than Fuller's time, for Westcote, who wrote about 1620, says of "Honitoun," "Here is made abundance of bone- lace, a pretty toy now greatly in request." In 1626 we are told that Sir Henry Borlase founded and endowed the free school at Great Marlow, for 24 boys to read, write, and cast accounts, and for 24 girls to knit, spin, and make bone-lace. This, besides proving that there was in those days no question as to where woman's " sphere " was to be found, shows that this manufacture was widely known ; of which another proof is afforded by the purchase, in 1612, of "four yardes of bone-lace for my Ladie (William Howard) " at a cost of 5s. In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, 1601, mention is made of " The spinsters and the knitters in the sun, And the free maids that weave their threads with bones." and in the City Match of Jasper Mayne, 1639, " You taught her to make shirts and bone lace." The question has arisen as to what sort of bones were used in the production of this lace. Fuller explains that sheep's trotters were used for bobbins, and that thus the name came into use ; but Mrs. Bury Palliser, in her valuable History of Lace, says that the Devon- shire lace-makers, " deriving their knowledge from tradition, declare that when lace-making was first introduced into their country, pins, so indis- pensable to their art, being then sold at a price far beyond their means, the lace-makers, mostly the wives of fishermen living along the coast, adopted the bones of fish, which, pared and cut into regular lengths fully answered as a substitute." This view is substantiated by another entry, in Lord Howard's Household Boohs, of 2s. 8d. being paid for " herring-bone lace for my ladie's gown." The import of foreign bone-lace was prohibited in the reign of Charles II., a restriction not repealed till the time of William III. In 1851 a patriotic effort was made to stimulate home manufactures. The Gentle- mail's Magazine for that year records that Lord Carpenter, grand president, held a quarterly committee of the several Associations of Antigallicans, when it was agreed to give a premium of ten guineas for the best piece of English bone- lace proper for men's ruffles, and five guineas for the second best ; also a premium of ten guineas to the drawer of the best pattern for brocade weaving, and five guineas for the second best, both which premiums are to be determined in their next quarterly committee. " The things you follow, and make songs on now should be sent to knit, or sit down to bobbins or bone-lace." Tatler. " We destroy the symmetry of the human figure, and foolishly contrive to call BON ( 30 ) BON off the eye from great and real beauties to childish gewgaws, ribbands, and bone-lace." Spectator, No. 99. BONGrRA.CE. A sort of front, standing erect round the face, attached to the hood which was once the ordinary wear of both sexes? One " bon- grace and a mufier of black velvet " are left in the will of Mistress Jane Fullthropp, of Hipswell, in 1566. John Heywood, in his Mery play between the Pardoner and Frere, 1533, says : " Here is of our lady a relic fall good, Her bongrace which she wore with her French hood ; " and in his Proverbs, newlie and pleasantlie contrived, 1546, " For a boon-grace, Some well-favoured visor on her ill-favored face." Fitzgeffery in his Satyres, 1617, asks, " Tell me precisely what availes it weare, A bongrace bonnet, eye-brow, shorter hair." BONNET. Originally applied to the flat caps worn by men in the time of the Tudors, in which sense the word is still current in Scotland. Its literal signification is top-dress or head-dress, from the Gaelic bonaid- beaun, the top, eide, dress. Bonnets, such as women now wear, have only been known during the present century. A curious letter is printed in Ellis's Original Letters, sent by Edward IV. when Earl of March, and his brother, the Earl of Rutland, to their father, in which they thank his " noblesse and good fadurhood " for the green gowns he had sent them, and then ask him that they may have "summe fyne bonetts sente on to us by the next seure messengere, for necessite so requireth." Strutt shows bonnets to have been worn by women as well as by men. They were usually made of cloth, sometimes richly trimmed with feathers, jewels, and ornaments of gold. In 1480 the Wardrobe Accounts of Edward IV. contain entries of " Bonetts " from 2s. 6d. to 3s. "every pece." The following items appear under date 1503 in the Privy Purse Expenses of Elizabeth of York, consort of Henry VII. : " Item, to Maistres Lokke, silkewoman, in partie of payement of a bill signed with hande of the Quenes grace, conteyning the somme of lx a yj' v d to hur due for certain frontlettes, bonettes, and other stuf of hure occupacion by hure delivered to the Quenes use as it appereth by the said Bill, xx H . " Item, for a bonette, xvi d . "Item, payed for a bonnet for the yong Lord Henry Courtney, xx d ." "Bonetts " appear pretty frequently in the Privy Purse Expenses of Henry VIII., from which the following items are given : " January, 1530. Certain bonetts for the king's grace and otherwise at his commandement. "July, 1530. Paid to Xpofer, mylloner, forbonnetts for the king's grace and the boys of his pryvat chambre, as apperithby his bill, lij»iiij d . " December, 1530. Item, paied to Xpofer, mylloner, for divers bonetts as well as Eyding bonnetts as other, trymmed and untryinmed, v u xj» ij d ." A sumptuary law of this period enacted that " if any temporal person of full age, whose wife not being divorced, nor willingly absenting her- self from him, doth wear .... any French hood or bonet of velvet, with any habiliment, paste, or edge of gold, pearl, or stone .... shall BOH ( 31 ) BBI lose £10 for every three months " during which the law was dis- obeyed. Shortly after hats came in, and this shape became the pro- perty and distinguishing mark of apprentices and citizens. BORATTO. Described as derived from the Belgic borat, ' ' a certain light stuff of silk and fine wool." Sewell. A similar stuff to Bom- bazine, or merely another name for some quality of that material. A charter of King Charles I., granted to the City, 1640, permitted a rate on import of 2s. to be levied on " Boratto's, narrow, the single piece, qt. 15 yards," and 3s. on "Bombassins, broad, the single piece, qt. 15 yards," and in the Booh of Rates of Charles II., Bombazines or Bora- toes, broad, the single piece, not above 15 yards," are valued at £7 the piece. They had been long previously worn, for in the stock of James Backhouse, of Kirbye in Lonsdaile, are the following relative items : " ix yards of borato at ij s vj d a yard, xxij yards \ boratons, £3 15s. Sylke borato, vip vj d the yard." BORSLEYS. A stuff made of combing wool, included among others of that description in Observations on Wool and the Woollen Manufac- ture, 1739. BOUFFON. An extravagant neckerchief of fine linen worn by ladies in 1780, causing them to resemble pouter pigeons. It was accompanied by a corresponding excrescence at the back below the waist. The word is derived from the Fr. bouffir, to puff or swell. BOULTING CLOTH. A thin woollen, but more recently linen, stuff, through which flour was sifted after being ground. Bolter, a sieve. " He now had boulted all the floure." Spensek, Faerie Queene. BRACES. {Bretetles, Fr. ; Hosentrager, Ger.) Too well known to need description. Formerly called Gallowses, under which Bailey gives " Contrivances made of cloth and hooks and eyes, worn over their shoulders by men to keep their breeches up," showing perfectly the manner of things they were before the introduction of india-rubber, and its manufacture into fibre, gave us the improved article now commonly worn. BRAID. A woven string, cord, or other texture, not properly solely applicable to the fillet or binding which the name now represents (A.-S. bredan, bregdan; Ice. bregda ; Dan. bragde, to weave.) Once used in the sense of deceitful, as the clown in the Winter's Tale asks the pedlar if he has any " unbraided " wares. Upbraid is literally to weave a reproach . BRANDEUM. Planche says this was a costly manufacture of silk or cloth. Fairholt that it was probably of silk, with which Ducange concurs. Used in palls, mitres, girdles, &c. BRIDGEWATER. A kind of cloth which took its name from the town where it was originally manufactured. Mentioned in an Act of 1553, 6 Edward IV., and again in the charter granted to the City by Charles I., 1640. BRO ( 32 ) BRQ BROCADE. A fabric with a pattern of raised figures (It. broccato ; Fr. brocart, from It. broccare ; Fr. brocher, to prick, to emboss ; pro- bably from Celtic brog, an awl [Donald]; Ger. brokat j Da., Sw. brokade; Du. brocade ; Sp., Port, broccado). It is supposed that this manufacture first came from China. We are frequently told that the word brocade was first only applied to stuff's of gold or silver threads, or of both in combination, but all mention occurring of brocades in early accounts is of cloths broched or em- broidered upon coloured grounds. Thus in the Wardrobe Accounts of Edward IV. we have "blue clothe of silver broched uppon satyn ground," and " clothe of golde broched uppon satyn ground," both cost- ing 24s. the yard. Hall describes a cloak worn by Henry VIII. at his meeting with Francis I. of France in the Vale of Ardres as being made of ' ' broched satin with gold and purple colours, wrapped about his body traverse." Strutt describes it as composed of silk interwoven with threads of gold and silver, and Du Cange cites an old inventory which includes a clerical vestment which was brocaded with gold upon a red ground, and enriched with the representations of Hons and other animals. Fairholt considers brocade to have been exceedingly rare on the Continent even in the fourteenth century, and that it was probably not known at all in England as early as the thirteenth. "White and gold brocade" at £2 3s. 6d. the yard and " colure-du-prince brocade" at £2 3s. the yard are mentioned in an inventory of the wardrobe of Charles II., taken in 1679. That the word afterwards came to be applied particularly to metallic tissues there can be no doubt. The threads of which it was then composed were of silk dyed as near to the colour of the metal employed as possible, round which flattened wires were woven, the particular merit being so to pro- duce this that the fabric when finished should show an unbroken sur- face of bullion. The manufacture of these threads, and of imitations of them, is thus particularly described by Mr. Porter in his work on the Silk Manufacture (included in Dr. Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopaedia). " At the time when the weaving of these golden tissues was encouraged by public taste, the manufacture of the threads whence they were produced had arrived at a high degree of excellence. At Milan there was a con- siderable manufactory, in which, by a secret process, flatted wire was made, having only one side covered with gilding. Threads of an inferior description were also made, chiefly at Nuremberg, by spinning gilt copper wire either upon threads of flax or hemp ; and the Chinese, still more economical, used slips of gilt paper, which they twisted upon silk, and sometimes even introduced into their stuffs without thus giving to the paper any fibrous support. But these productions could have boasted at best only an evanescent beauty ; and, accordingly, we learn from Du Halde, the historian of China, that golden tissues were rarely used in that country except for tapestries or other ornamental substances which were but little exposed to view, and could be effectually protected from moisture." By degrees silk was introduced into this manufacture as a ground for ornaments of gold or silver threads, for which the name of brocade was still retained, and, again, silk was afterwards wholly employed, so that the name came to apply to any material having a raised pattern. These silken brocades are those alluded to by writers of the last century : BRO ( 33 ) BTJC " Or stain her honour or her new brocade." Pope : Rape of the Lock. " A brocade waistcoat or petticoat, are standing topics of conversation." Spectator. And were at that time very much worn, at which time it was in part a home manufacture. It is said to be one among the many fabrics intro- duced here by the refugees who fled from France on the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. The last brocades woven in this country are believed to have been some very elegant pieces woven at Spitaltields, to be used in the upholstering of some chairs for Carlton House, when occupied by George IV. BROCATEL, or Brocadel. A coarse brocade, chiefly used for tapestry. Uncyclopcedia Brittanica, 1842. BROELLA. A coarse cloth in common wear in mediaeval times. BUCK, or Bowk, to soak or steep in lye, a process in bleaching ; lye in which clothes are bleached (Ger. beuchen, buchen ; Dan. bygo ; Gael, bog, to steep) ; also given from the Ger. biiche, the beech, because lye was made of the ashes of the beech. Donald. " Falstaff. They conveyed me in a buck-basket : rammed me in with foul sheets and smocks, socks, foul stockings, greasy napkins ; that, master Brook, there wa£ the rankest compound of villainous smell that ever offended nostril." Merry Wives of Windsor. BUCKLES (Fr. boucle, Ger. schnalle) were first generally worn in the reign of Charles II. (" This day I began to put on buckles to my shoes." Pepys: Diary, Jan. 22, 1659-60), and soon became fashionable. They were then made of very expensive materials. Buckles for shoes are mentioned much earlier than this, and are forbidden to be imported by an Act of 1483 ; but at that early date were only attached to little straps to keep the shoe on the foot. Others of a very elaborate kind were used by knights for their sword belts. The fashion of wearing buckles reached its height in the reign of Georgft II., during which period they were frequently made of silver or set with diamonds. In Monsieur A-la-Mode, a sarcastic poem of 1753, the eaumeration of the articles which went to make a beau include buckles like diamonds, which must glitter and shine : " Should they cost fifty pounds they would not be too fine." They, and buttons, were shortly after worn of such size as to occasion the issue of a caricature, entitled " Buckles and Buttons, or I'm the thing, deme ! " but in 1791 they suddenly went out of fashion, occasioning much distress amongst the buckle makers, who tried in vain to Btem the tide of favour in which shoe-strings were held, by means of a petition. This change of fashion followed upon George III. going to St. Paul's, to return thanks for recovery from "a severe illness " in strings, whereupon buckles went down, and Walsall was nearly ruined. The intervention of the Prince of Wales was solicited by the manufacturers, and obtained, but in this instance even Royalty failed in attempting to affect fashion. BXJC ( 34 ) BTJF BUCKRAM, (Fr. bougran ; Ger. schettre, steife lemwand ; It. bucherame, tela collata o gommata; Russ. hleanka ; Sp. bucaran.) The word is given by etymologists from buca, a hole, from the fabric being woven loosely and open, and afterwards gummed, calendered, and dyed. But it is also said to have taken its title from the place of its original manufacture, Bokhara, or Boukhara, in Tartary. Planche indeed traces the course of the manufacture westward, through Armenia and the Island of Cyprus in the 14th century, and later into Spain, but no authorities are quoted to verify the statement. Buck- ram was originally a very different material to that now known by the name. Strutt describes it as "a fine thin cloth," ranking with the richest silks. It was in use as early as 1327 for church vestments and furniture, a conclusive testimony to its costly character. At the same time, and for long subsequently, it was used for wearing apparel. " Fdlstaff. Four rogues in buckram let drive at me." King Henry IV. There can, however, be no doubt, that buckram of a common descrip- tion was early applied to a coarse lining. In 1529 two yards of "buckeram to lyne the upper sieves of a night gowne" cost Is. (Privy Purse Expenses of Henry VIII.), and prior to that, in 1502, there is an entry of a yard of black buckram, 8d., in the Privy Purse Expenses of Elizabeth of York, and in September of the same year eight yards of buckram are charged 5d. a yard, " and for his costes riding for the same stuf from Berkeley to Bristowe by the space of ij dayes, xx d ." These prices do not show a fine material, so that the character of buckram must have undergone a complete change even at that period, more so than it has done since, for in the Household Boohs of Lord William Howard, * ' a quarter of buckram for stifning " is charged 3d., with "a quarter of serge for stayes." This was in 1618, and four years later there is another entry in the same books of "a yard of buckram for Mrs. Mary," Is. In 1577 two pieces of "buckeron" are respectively valued at 8d. and lOd. a yard. " Buckromes of France " and " Buckromes of Germany" are mentioned in the charter granted to the City in 1640. BUDGE. Lambskin with the fur dressed outwards ; formerly used to border the gowns of scholars, and still employed to trim the gowns of City liveries. "The dressed fur of lambs, a material no doubt supplied by the pastoral nations of Slavonic race, with whom it is still much in use" (Wedgwood). The trade of preparing these skins gave its name to Budge-roio, in the City : a street, says Stow, "so called of the Budge furre, and of skinners dwelling there." BUFFINES. "A coarse stuff used for the gowns of the middle classes of females in the time of James I., and during the earlier half of the 17th century." Planche. " Aland of coarse cloth." Halliwell. " Used for some coarse mate- rial; whether literally huff-leather or coarse stuff of that colour does not appear." Nares. These conjectures can in some measure be cleared up. A MS. in the Lansdowne Collection in the British Museum (quoted by James) contains the following entry : BUG ( 35 ) BT7Q " Grograms, broad or narrow, called Buffines, poize (weight) 4 lbs. one with another." They are there valued at £1 per piece. The date of this MS., 1592, shows the stuff to have been introduced prior to the reign of James I. In the Charter of Charles II. to the City, 1640, among stuffs on which a duty of scavage — a kind of toll or custom exacted formerly by mayors or municipal authorities from merchant strangers for the privilege of showing their wares, or offering them for sale within the liberties — could be levied, are included. " Buffins, Liles, and Morcadoes, narrow, the single Piece of Fifteen yards. Buffins, Liles, Morcadoes, broad, the single Piece of Fifteen yards;" and Buffines again were charged with a Paccage Bate outwards. In the Booh of Rates, 1675, buffins are valued at £4 5s. the piece, not above 15 yards. " Do you wear your quoif with a London licket, your stamel petticoat with two guards, the buffin gown with the tuft-taffety cap, and the velvet lace. I must be a lady, and I will be a lady." Eastward Hoe, 1605. 11 My young ladies in buffin gowns and green aprons ! Tear them off." Mas- singer : City Madam, 1669. BUGLE. This word is connected with bugle-horn, which is literally a buffle K or buffalo, an instrument made from buffalo horn. Bugle is properly applicable only to long black beads, but is the earliest term in use for beads. Bead properly signifies something bid or prayed, and comes from the A.-S. bead, gebed, a prayer — bidden, to bid, to pray (Donald) ; thus bead-roll was a list of persons to be prayed for, and beadsman one who prayed for others. In this sense beads compose rosaries, and derive some of their foreign equivalents : Fr. rosaires, Ger. rosenJcranze, Du. paternosters, It. cor one, Sp. coronas. The manufacture of glass into beads is very ancient, but in Europe was first practised by the Venetians, from whom we derived our supply until the repeal of the duty on glass afforded an opportunity of the industry being successfully prosecuted here. The fashion of wearing them as ornaments began in the reign of Elizabeth, when they were profusely used in head-dresses. Stubbes, in his Anatomie of Abuses, vigorously condemns the manner of wearing the hair then current, " which of force must be curled, frisled, and crisped, laid out in wreathes and borders from one ear to another," and "thus wreathed and crested, is hung with bugles ; I dare not say babies." Beads were also employed in other ways. Spenser, in the Shepheard's Calendar, makes Cuddie say, " But Phyllis is mine for many dayes : I won her with a gyrdle of gelt, Embost with buegle about the belt." Autolycus, in the Winter's Tale, enumerates — 11 Bugle-bracelet, necklace amber. Perfume for a lady's chamber." The use of bugles continued in the following reign. In the Household Books of Lord William Howard, 1612-40, is an entry of 3s. 6d. for 1 ' 20,000 of white bugles, and 100 nedles xij d ." d 2 BUR ( 36 ) BUS BUR. The prickly head of some plants, which adheres to clothes like a flock of wool, from which the word is derived (Fr. bourre, flocks of wool ; It. borra, any kind of stuffing ; low Latin, hurra, a flock of wool, Donald). The word burr, a peculiarity of speech, comes from the same source, and literally means to speak as if a flock of wool were in the throat. BUREL. (See Birrus.) A coarse cloth of native manufacture. Henry III. exempted the citizens of London from all prosecutions on account of Burels or Listed Cloth not made according to a standard imposed by him a short while previous. BURL. To pick the burrs or burls from the surface of woollen cloths. " Soon the clothier's shears And burler's thistle skim the surface sheen." Dyer : TJie Fleece. BURNET, Burnetta. As in the case of russet, it remains an open ques- tion whether a cloth of this distinctive title was ever in use, or whether the word was only used as an adjective denoting in this instance cloth of a brown colour. King John gives a warrant for making two robes for the queen, each of them to consist of five ells of cloth, one of them to be of green, and one of burnet. This would be strong evidence in favour of the latter view, which is again supported by a passage in Chaucer's Rommint of the Rose. " A burnette coat hung there withal Y-furred with no miniveere ; But 'with a furre rough of hair Of lamb skynnes, hevy and black." BUSK. "A sort of stick of whalebone, iron, wood, etc., worn formerly by women to keep down their stomachers, and stiffen their stays." Bailey. " Made of wood or wbalebone. A plaited or quDted thing to keep the body straight." Minsheu. " Fr. busque or buste. The long, small, or sharp-pointed and hard quilted belly of a doublet. Also a piece of steel to keep the dress of the body firm to- the shape." Richardsox. The date of its introduction is generally settled by a reference to William Warner's Albion's England, a work first published in 1586 : " But heard you named Till now of late, busks, perriwigs, Masks, plumes of feathers framed." In the same work is another passage alluding to this article : " Her face was masked, her locks were curl'd, Her body pent with buske, And, which was needless, she more sweet, Her raiment scented musk." In common with stays, busks have at times been worn by effeminate men. Hall in his Satires, 159S, when dealing with dandies speaks of those who " Wear curl'd periwigs and chalk tkeir face, And still are poring on their pockct-^lass, Tir'd with pinn'd raft, and fans and partial strips, And busks and verdingales about their hips." BUS ( 37 ) BUT An entry in the Wardrobe Accounts of Edwdrd IV. is of a payment of 6d. for "washing of divers old peces of busk and of a paillet." Nicolas, in editing these accounts, thinks that busk was "a sort of linen cloth, and apparently of a coarse and common description, as it was used for pallets, lining of vallances, &c." But it by no means fol- lows that because it was used in bed furniture at that period that it was a paltry material. It is also thought by this eminent antiquarian that busk "appears to have been the article called bustian ; " but this is pure conjecture. Bustian is far more likely to have been a coarse kind of fustian, the more so from its use for pallets, as the use of fustian, not then considered common for bed furnishings, was frequent in the Middle Ages.* See Bustian. BUSSIN. A linen cap or hood worn by old women, in the opinion of Jamieson probably derived from Gr. bussus, fine linen. BUSTIAN, in the Book of Rates, 1675, is valued at £2 the single piece, not above 15 yaids. A stroDg presumption in favour of bustian having been a description of fustian is found in the fact that both are given in company in old inventories. For instance, in the stock of James Backhouse, of Kirby- in-Lonsdale, taken 20th September, 1578, the entries applicable stand thus And again, " viij yeards and a quarter of bustion, 9s. 6d. vj yeards dim (a half) of wyrsytt, 8s. 8d. v yeards whit holmes fustian, 5s. 5d." " Jeanes fustian xliii. yeards, 27s. xij £ yeards white holmes, 12s. 6d. Doble bustian, 2s. 4d. per yard." BUTTON. " The noun is applied to — The bud of a plant, that which is thrust forth from the stem or shoot ; to anything placed upon something else, and projecting or protruding from it, as a coat button, a door button, by which the door or coat is fastened or closed. Richardson. (Fr. bouton, from bouter, to push ; Gael. putan, a button — put, to push. Donald. Welsh, bottom ; G-er. Tcnopfe ; It. bottoni ; Sp. botones ; Port, botons.) In England pimples were formerly called pushes, and small mushrooms are known as buttons." Buttons first began to be worn in the time of Edward I. In a MS. poem quoted in Knight's History of British Costume, said to be cer- tainly not of later date than 1390, mention is made of this fashion : " His robe was all of gold beganne With chrislike maked I understande ; Botones azurd (azure) everilke ane (every one) From his elboth to his hande." Upon the introduction of points and laces the use of buttons in the 15th century declined, but in the next century we find frequent mention of them. In a will dated 1573, the testator leaves " unto John Woodzyle my doublet of fruite canvas and my hose with fryze bryches ; also I give unto Strowde my frize jerkin with silke buttons ; * The fifteenth-century document quoted as a note to Bay leaves no doubt that bustian at any rate was not made of linen. BUT ( 38 ) BUT also I give Symonde Bisshoppe, the smyth, my other frize jerkin with stone buttons.'' Gascoigne, in his Woodmanship, speaks of " a bonet buttoned with gold His comelie cape begarded all with gay, His bumbast hose with linings manifold." During this period we find in an inventory " v grosse of sylke buttons, 8s. 3d. iiij sylke buttons, 20d. iiij grose of sylke buttons, 5s. 8d. Quick sylver and brase buttons, 6d. iij grose of sylke buttons, 4s. 6d. half grose of glasse buttons, 7d." And the mention of ' ' button-mooles " denotes the manner in which the covered buttons were made. In 1640 mention occurs of buttons manufactured of brass, steel, cop- per, latten, hair, silk, and Hired, about which time their importation from abroad was forbidden, a prohibition which continued in force until the reign of George IV. Buttons, however, continued to be generally worn. An effort to supersede them is thus noticed in the 175th Spec- tator : "At the same time we have a set of gentlemen who take the liberty to appear in all public places without any buttons on their coats, which they supply with little silver hasps, tho' our freshest advices from London make no mention of any such fashion." George III. amused himself with a turning lathe, and when it became known, in 1770, that the Royal mechanic had succeeded in producing a button he was caricatured in a production called The Button Maker's Jest Book. Hutton, in his History of Birmingham, published about this time, gives a good account of their varieties. "This beautiful ornament appears with infinite variation ; and though the original date is rather uncer- tain, yet we well remember the long coats of our grandfathers ornamented with a horn button nearly the size of a crown piece, a watch, or John apple, curiously wrought, as having passed through the Birmingham press. Though the common round button keeps in with the steady pace of the day, yet we sometimes see the oval, the square, the pea, and the pyramid flash into existence. In some branches of traffic the wearer calls loudly for new fashions ; but in this the fashions tread upon each other and crowd upon the wearer. The consumption of this article is astonishing, and the value from 3d. a gross to 140 guineas. There seem to be hidden treasures couched within this magic circle known only to a few, who extract prodigious fortunes out of this useful toy, whilst a far greater number submit to the statute of bankruptcy.'* The addition to this account of Fairholt's reminiscences will afford a very complete view of the varieties in which this little article has at different times appeared. "Buttons were made sometimes like a picture, the back of the button being dark, upon which, in various degrees of relief, were placed, in ivory or bone, trees, figures, and flowers ; some I have seen an inch and three-quarters across. Others were arranged in elegant patterns in white metal upon a gilt ground, and an immense variety of most tasteful form may still be seen on old Court suits. Sometimes they were made of mother-of-pearl or ivory cut into forms on the surface or edges by the workman, the centres being em- BYS ( 39 ) BYS bellished with patterns in gilt metal. Double buttons for the cloak may be seen in Brayley's Graphic Illustrator. Sleeve-buttons and shirt- buttons of similar construction, and of many fanciful forms, were also manufactured. The heads of military heroes were placed on them, as "William Duke of Brunswick, the Duke of Cumberland, &c. The button of the Blue- coat boys has the bust of Edward VI. ; and indeed it may be said that the livery button of the present day assumes the place of the badge of the middle ages ; and thus, as Crof ton Croker felicitously observes, ' buttons are the medals of heraldry.' " In the reign of George I. an effort was made to foster the manufacture of metal buttons by providing (4 Geo. I., c. 7) that no person shall make, sell, or set upon any clothes or wearing garments whatsoever, any buttons made of cloth, serge, drugget, frieze, camblet, or any other stuff of which clothes or wearing garments are made, or any buttons made of wood only and turned in imitation of other buttons, on pain of forfeit- ing 40s. per dozen for all such buttons. This was supplemented three years later by provisions that " No tailor shall set on any buttons or button-holes of serge, drugget, &c, under penalty of 40s. for every dozen of buttons or button-holes so made or set on. No person shall use or wear on any clothes, garments, or apparel whatso- ever, except velvet, any buttons or button-holes made of or bound with cloth, &c, on penalty of forfeiting 40s. per dozen." BYSSINE. Three mantles of byssine lined with fur were ordered by King John for his queen in 1201. BYSSUS. The beard of the Pinna, or wing shell, a bivalve found in great numbers on the coast of Sicily, and known as the silkworm or caterpillar of the sea, from its power of spinning at will the delicate silky filaments which it puts forth to maintain ifself in favourable positions. These filament?, after being washed, are spun in the ordinary manner, and made into various articles of apparel, such as caps, gloves, hand- kerchiefs, stockings, &c. This manufacture was well known to the ancients, and is mentioned by Pliny and Aristotle. It continues very limited from the small quantity obtained from each shell — barely half a drachm — and the cost of the articles is necessarily great, stockings fetching about eleven shillings and gloves six shillings per pair ; but in some respects these goods are said to be preferable to silk. Their colour is brilliant, and ranges from a beautiful golden yellow to a rich brown j they are also very durable, imperfect conductors of heat, and have been recommended for rheumatic affections. They are, indeed, too warm for ordinary wear, although the fabric is so thin that a pair of stockings may be put in an ordinary-sized snuff-box. Specimens of the manufacture were shown in the Exhibitions of 1851 and 1878. The use of this term by ancient writers, as indicating some sort of textile, has afforded a fruitful theme for much fruitless discussion. Learned men wrote treatises upon they knew not what ; other learned men naturally held contrary views, which they expounded at length. These voluminous arguments upon an unknown quantity were finally and conclusively stopped by the result of a microscopical investigation of mummy cloths ; these again could be taken as a test by reason of it having been clearly stated that mummies were enwrapped in byssus. The paper which embodied this discovery was read before the Royal CAD ( 40 ) CAF Society, and can be found by the anxious inquirer in an appendix to the History of the Cotton Manvfacture of Baines, but the general reader may take it for granted that the result was too decisive to be doubted. The summary with which the historian of cotton introduces the subject may, however, be reproduced here with advantage : 11 There is a passage in Herodotus which has been understood as showing that the Egyptians manufactured cotton, and used cotton cloth as wrappings for their mummies. In his description of the mode of embalming (book ii. c. 86) that author says, the body was closely wrapped in bandages of cloth, the quality of which he indicates by the words sindonos bussines. These words are rendered by the translators (Larcher and Beloe) " cotton; " several other writers have given the same meaning to bussos, or byssus; yet the meaning of this word is, at best, very doubtful. Isidore (Orig. 1. xix. c. 27) says distinctly that it was an exceedingly white and soft kind of flax. Julius Pollux (lib. vii. 12) says that it denotes the finest flax, cotton, and the silky beard of the pinna marina. Pausanias states (In Eliacis 1. 1) that byssus grew in Egypt, Judea, India, and Elis; which is true of flax, but cotton certainly did not at that time grow in any part of Greece. There has been much controversy on this word, and it has even been doubted whether byssus belonged to the vegetable, animal, or mineral kingdom. In all probability Herodotus, by sindonos bussines, meant linen made of a fine and peculiar kind of flax, or a cloth of delicate texture, without reference to the material of which it was made. That bussos meant cotton is rendered highly improbable by the fact that no mummy cover- ings have yet been found which are made of this material, but all of linen. " I had intended to discuss this question more at length, but am spared that labour by the successful investigations of Mr. Thomson, of Clitheroe, who has lately set at rest this vexata questio, by a discovery which reduces a great deal of the learning that has been expended upon it to the character of old lumber. The difficulty of ascertaining whether the mummy cloths (of which the speci- mens are exceedingly numerous) were made of linen or cotton has at length been overcome ; and though no chemical test could be found out to settle the question, it has been decided by that important aid to scientific scrutiny, the microscope." CADDIS, Caddas. " Caddas or cruel ribbons, the Dozen Pieces of 26 yards each." Charter of Charles I., 1640. " Caddas or cruel ribbon." Book of Rates, 1675. "Caddas or cruel sayette." Palsgrave, 1530. Doubtless a kind of yarn used, like "cruel" or crewel, for embroidery, or in making narrow fancy fabrics. The sumptuary law of the third year of Edward IV. states that the king "hath ordained and stablished that no yeoman, nor none other person under the same degree from the said Feast of S. Peter, called ad vincula, which shall be in the year of our Lord MCCCCLXV., shall use nor wear in array for his body, any bolsters nor stuffing of wool, cotton, nor cadas, nor any other stuffing in his doublet, but only lining, according to the same, upon pain to forfeit to the king's use for every such default 6s. 8d." This "cadas " obviously must have been some kind of flock, and some writers have taken caddis simply to denote cotton. Both renderings are reconcile- able, if we can take "caddas or crull " to have been spun from the yarn which was at one time used for stuffing. CAFFA. A rich mediaeval stuff, probably of silk. In the Wardrobe Accounts of Henry VIII. there is a payment on the 18th of May, 15,31, of £6 7s. Od. to " hugh Naylinghurst, for xviij yardes and one quarter of white caffa for the Kingea grace." And in the Privy Purse Expenses of CAL ( 41 ) CAL the Princess Mary, his daughter, " a yerde of crimsen caffa " is charged 12s. It is conjectured by Madden, the editor of these latter accounts, that it was only a distinctive material by reason of some peculiar preparation in the loom, because an inventory of silks and velvets taken at this period {Cotton MS.) makes mention of white, black, and russet caffa damask, and crimson caffa diaper. In Caven- dish's Negotiations of Thomas Woolsey (pub. 1641) is a description of a gallery, where "there was set divers tables, whereupon a great number of rich stuffs of silk in whole pieces of all colours, as velvet, satin, damask, caffa, taffeta, grograine, sarcenet, and of others not in my remembrance." The weaving of Caffa and weaving of darnick are tableaux in a pageant provided for the reception of Queen Elizabeth in 1579. CALASH (Fr. caleche; It. calesso, wheel), a light carriage with a moveable hood, in imitation of which a hood was worn (first in 1765) by ladies attached to their bonnets, having a string fastened to the hoops of whalebone, of which it was made, so that it could be pulled forward over the face at pleasure. It can still be seen worn by bathing-women at watering places. This had been preceded ten years before by another adaptation of vehicles to fashion. Horace Walpole writes in 1755: All "we hear from France is that a new madness reigns there. This is the fureur des cabriolets, Anglice, one-horse chairs ; they not only universally go in them, but wear them ; that is, everything is to be en cabriolet ; the men paint them on their waistcoats, and have them embroidered for clocks to their stockings ; and the women, who have gone all the winter with- out anything on their heads, are now muffled up in great caps with round sides in the form of and scarcely less than the wheels of chaises." The fashion, which quickly was imported into England, was carried here to extravagant lengths, so that the wear of cabriolets was actually improved into fashions known as post-cliaises, chairs and chairmen, and broad-wheeled waggons. CALENDERING. The process by which stuffs of various kinds are subjected to great pressure between rollers to make them smooth and finished. Chambers in his Cyclopaedia, 1741, states : " The word is formed from the French calandre, or Spanish callandra, which signify the same; and which some derive further from the Latin cylindrus ; in regard the whole effect of the machine depends upon a cylinder. Borel derives the name from that of a little hird of the swallow kind ; in regard to the agreement between the feathers of the hird and the impression of the machine (when used for watering)." The accepted modern origin of the word is through cylinder, from the Gr. kylindros — kylindb, to roll. CALICO. (Fr. coton, toile de colon; Ger. kattun ; It. tela bambagina, tela di pinta ; Sp. tela de algodon ; Da. kattun; Du. katzen ; Sw. cattun.) Authorities agree in ascribing the name of this material from Calicut, a city on the coast of Malabar, discovered by the Portuguese in 1498, from whence it was first imported. Anderson gives the date of its being originally brought here by the East India Company as 1631, which may be true as far as that Company is concerned ; but if, as we CAL ( 42 ) CAI* are led to suppose, the Company are to have the credit of first bringing it into the country, that is quite another thing. An inventory of 1578 contains the following items : " iiij yards of Callaga, 6s. 4d. xij yards of Callaca, 12s." In 1633 "15 yeards of purple callico " cost 22s. 6d. in Lord William Howard's Household Book ; and earlier entries of calico charged from 4d. to 6d. a yard can be found in the same accounts. Further, a rare tract published in 1621, entitled, A Discourse of Trade from England unto the East Indies "as touching the trade of callicoes of many sorts, into which the English lately made an entrance," says that, u Although it cannot bee truly sayd that this commodity is profitable for the state of Christendome in generall (in respect they are the manufacture of In- fidells, and in great part the "wear of Christians), yet nevertheless this commo- ditie likewise is of singular vse, for this commonwealth in particular ; not only therewith to increase the trade into forraine parts ; but also thereby greatly to abate the excessive prices of Cambricks, Holland, and other sorts of Linen- cloath, -which daily are brought into this Kingdonie, for a very great summe of money." A play of Dekker's, published in 1630, makes a haberdasher's apprentice named George, "a notable voluble-ton gued villain " thus push the trade : "I can fit you, gentlemeD, with fine calicoes, too, for your doublets ; the only sweet fashion now, most delicate and courtly, a meek gentle calico, cut upon two double affable taffetas. Ah ! most neat, feat, and unmatchable." Again, the first mention of any import or manufac- ture of cotton in England is commonly stated to be found in a tract entitled the Treasure of Traffike, 1641 ; but another pamphlet, published three years previous, by the same author, styled the Merchant 's Map of Commerce, makes mention of trade with India in the " late great traffic," and states that there is brought back from there "nutmegs, cottons, rice, callicoes of sundry sorts," with a long catalogue of other products of the country. The trade must have been very profitable. Sir Josiah Child, in his New Discourses of Trade, 1668, states that in his time our exports to India had been more than trebled, and he is particular in mentioning calicoes as being advantageous to trade. The Company, he states, then employed from thirty-five to forty sail of the most warlike mercantile ships of the kingdom, with from sixty to a hundred men on each ; and besides supplying the country with saltpetre, pepper, indigo, calicoes, and several useful drugs, to the value of between £150,000 and £1S0,000 yearly for home consumption, procured us calicoes, printed stuffs, and other merchandise for our trade. Turkey, France, Spain, Italy, and Guinea, most of which trades according to this author could not then be carried on with any considerable advantage but for those supplies (Craik). The authorship of another publication of 1677, entitled, The East India Trade a most profitable Trade to this Kingdom, is attributed to Sir Josiah Child. In this the average annual import of calicoes is put at £160,000, " which serve instead of the like quantity of French, Dutch, and Flemish linen, which would cost us thrice as much ; hereby £200,000 or £300,000 is yearly saved to the nation. And if the linen manufacture were settled in Ireland, so as to supply England, our calicoes might be transported to foreign markets." If these writers, CAL ( 43 ) CAL dealing with figures which are but as a drop in a bucket when com- pared with the present production of calicos, could only be shown round a few factories in Lancashire ! If they could be given a survey of our cotton trade and be told that it is the growth of only a little over a century ! Indeed, more recent writers would be as greatly astounded. An estimate on which every dependence can be placed puts the value of all the manufactures of cotton in the kingdom in 1766 at £600,000 per annum. All early calicoes had wefts only of cotton, the warps being composed of linen yarn imported for the purpose. Thus it comes that we find calico appearing as Callicoe-Lawn among the linens in a Charter of 1640, and from this arose a dispute between the E. I. Company and the farmer of the import duties, as related by Pepys in his Diary, February 27, 166f : "Sir Martin Noell told us the dispute between him, as farmer of the additional duty and the East India Company, whether callico be linnen or no, which he says it is, having been ever esteemed so. They say it is made of cotton-woole, and grows upon trees, not like flax or hemp ; but it was carried against the Company, though they stand out against the verdict. " These calicoes of linen and cotton continued in use until 1773. Prior to that time the consumption of the fabric had materially increased, so that the weavers had great difficulty in procur- ing sufficient weft for their work. About 1760 the Manchester mer- chants established a system of appointing agents in various centres who supplied the workmen around them with foreign or Irish linen yarn for warps, and raw cotton to be spun or carded by the members of the weaver's family ready for use. But the demand still increased, and though additional spinners were employed the weavers again found themselves hampered for want of weft, so that "it was no uncommon thing for a weaver to walk three or four miles in the morning and call on four or five spinners before he could collect weft to serve him for the remainder of the day." These difficulties were obviated by the successive inventions of the spinning jenny in 1767 by James Hargreaves, a Blackburn carpenter, and of the spinning frame in 1769 by " Richard Arkwright, of Not- tingham, clockmaker," as the patent specifies. Still the yarns produced by these wonderful inventions were only partially successful. That of Hargreaves lacked the firmness and consistency necessary for warp- threads, and was only available for wefts, while that of Arkwright was too coarse for any but ordinary fabrics. This need for fine yarns led Samuel Crompton, a son of a small farmer and manufacturer, living in the neighbourhood of Bolton, to produce his spinning mule, so called from its combining the inventions of Hargreaves and Arkwright, about 1775, by which yarns of any degree of fineness could be pro- duced. (See Cotton Spinning.) But to Arkwright belongs the credit of having first produced, in 1773, a calico entirely of cotton, at the suggestion of Mr. Strutt, who with Mr. Need, were at the time his partners in endeavouring to establish his invention. The first mill for the production of these stuffs was erected at Nottingham, to which place Arkwright had been driven with a double motive of avoiding the Lancashire mob, which had wrecked Hargreave's machines, and to seek pecuniary assistance in a centre where much cotton yarn was produced for hosiery. Horse-power was first applied, but proved too costly for CAL ( 44 ) CAL profit, and subsequently water-power was derived from the Derwent at Belper. The introduction of these calicoes was only effected after a series of struggles. First the Lancashire calico weavers combined against them, from a short-sighted belief that hand spinning was more satisfactory, and with the idea that their trade would be destroyed. Arkwright has himself related the difficulties with which he had to con- tend. " It was not," he said, " till upwards of five years had elapsed after obtaining his first patent, and more than £12,000 had been expended in machinery and buildings, that any profit accrued to himself and partners." " The most excellent yarn or twist was produced ; not- withstanding which the proprietors found great difficulty to introduce it into public use. A very heavy and valuable stock, in consequence of these difficulties, lay upon their hands : inconveniences and disadvan- tages of no small consideration followed. Whatever were the motives which induced the rejection of it, they were thereby necessarily driven to attempt by their own strength and ability the manufacture of the yarn . Their first trial was in weaving it into stockings, which suc- ceeded, and soon established the manufacture of calicoes, which pro- mises to be one of the first manufactures in this kingdom. Another still more formidable difficulty arose ; the orders for goods which they had received, being considerable, were unexpectedly countermanded, the officers of excise refusing to let them pass at the usual duty of 3d. per yard, insisting on the additional duty of 3d. per yard, as being calicoes, though manufactured in England: besides, these calicoes, when printed, were prohibited. By this unforeseen obstruction a very considerable and very valuable stock of calicoes accumulated. An application to the Commissioners of Excise was attended with no success ; the proprietors, therefore, had no resource but to ask relief of the Legislature ; which, after much money expended, and against a strong opposition of tlie manu- facturers in Lancashire, they obtained. " It became necessary to appeal to Parliament for a declaratory Act, enabling the authorities to recognize these as home products, which was granted in 1774, declaring the new industry to "be a lawful and laud- able manufacture." This Act (14 George III.), as being the first legis- lative recognition of an exclusively cotton fabric, is so important that it will be here proper, as Mr. Baines found, to extract the preamble and principal clauses : 11 An Act for ascertaining the duty on printed, painted, stained, or dyed stuffs, wholly made of cotton, and manufactured in Great Britain, and for allow- ing the use and wear thereof, under certain regulations. "I. Whereas a new manufacture of stuffs, wholly made of raw cotton wool (chiefly imported from the British plantations), hath been lately set up within this kingdom, in which manufacture many hundreds of poor persons are em- ployed ; and whereas the use and wear of printed, painted, stained or dyed stuffs, wholly made of Cotton, and manufactured in Great Britain, ought to be allowed under proper regulations ; and whereas doubts have arisen whether the said new manufactured stuffs ought to be considered as Callicoes, and as such, if printed, painted, stained, or dyed with any colour or colours (such as shall be dyed throughout of one colour only excepted) liable to the inland or exdM duties laid on Callicoes when printed, painted, stained, or dyed with any colour or colours (except as aforesaid) by the statutes made and now in force, concerning the same : whether the wearing or use of the said new manufac- tured stuffs when the same are printed, painted, staiued, or dyed, are not CAL ( 45 ) CAL prohibited by an Act passed in the Seventh Year of the Keign of his late Majesty, King George the First, intitutled, An Act to preserve and encourage the Woollen and Silk Manufactures of this Kingdom, and for more effectually employing the Poor, by prohibiting the use and wear of all printed, painted, stained, or dyed Callicoes in Apparel, Household Stuff, Furniture, or otherwise, after the Twenty-fifth day of December One Thousand Seven Hundred and Twenty-two (except as therein is excepted) : For obviating all such doubts for the future, may it please your most excellent Majesty that it may be enacted; and be it enacted by the King's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, that no greater or higher duty than three pence for every yard in length reckoning yard wide, and after that rate for a greater or lesser quantity, shall be imposed, raised, levied, collected, or paid unto and for the use of His Majesty, his heirs and successors, on the said new manufactured stuffs wholly made of cotton spun in Great Britain, when printed, stained, painted, or dyed with any colour or colours. "II. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that it shall and may be lawful for any person or persons to use or wear, within the Kingdom of Great Britain, either as Apparel, Household Stuff, Furniture, or otherwise, any new manufactured stufi's wholly made of Cotton spun in Great Britain, when printed, stained, painted, or dyed with any colour or colours, any thing in the said recited Act of the Seventh Year of the Keign of His late Majesty King George the First, or any other Act or Acts of Parliament to the contrary hereof in any wise notwithstanding. 11 III. And to the end it may be known that such Stuffs were manufactured in Great Britain, be it further enacted, That in each piece of the said new manufactured stuffs, wholly made of Cotton Wool spun in Great Britain, there shall be wove in the warp in both selvages through the whole length thereof three blue Stripes, each Stripe of one thread only ; the first of which said Stripes shall be the first or outermost thread of the warp of each selvage ; the second of which said Stripes shall be the third thread ; and the third of which said Stripes shall be the fifth thread of the warp from each selvage ; and that each piece of the same stuffs, when printed, stained, painted, or dyed in Eng- land, Wales, or Berwick upon Tweed, be stamped at each end with a Stamp, to be provided for that purpose, by the Commissioners of Excise in England for the time being, or by the Officers employed or to be employed under them ; and instead of the Word Callico, which stands for foreign Callicoes, each piece may be marked with the words British Manufactory." These conditions were also extended to Scotland. It was further pro- vided that persons exposing such stuffs for sale without the mark (unless for exportation) should forfeit the stuffs, and <£50 for every piece ; and persons importing such stuffs should be liable to lose the goods, and to forfeit £10 for each piece. The penalty of death was attached to the counterfeiting of the stamp, or the selling of the goods knowing them to have counterfeited stamps. (Baines : History of the Cotton Manufacture. ) The progress of the manufacture, both in extent and in improve- ments in production, has since that time been continuous, receiving a great stimulus when the result of actions tried in 1781 and 1785 set aside Arkwright's patent as invalid, in the first instance on the score of incomplete specification, and in the second on the whole question as to his right to be the original inventor of the spinning frame. The verdict still stands against him, and, in the opinion of most writers, the decision was correct. That a patent was taken out in 1738 which. CAL ( 46 ) . CAM practically anticipated his invention can be proved, and that Arkwright was aware of an effort having been made to practise cotton spinning by means of rollers he acknowledged, bat the credit still remains to him of establishing the process by which the greatest Industry in the kingdom attained its present magnitude. CALICO, Printed. See Chintz : Prints. CALIMANCO, Calmanco. (Du. kall^mink, kalinenk ; Fr. calmande t calmandre ; It. durante : Russ. kolomenka : Sp.calmaco; Sw. kalninak.) Mentioned in the play of Hidas, 1592, by John Lyly, as calamance. Johnson thinks the word may by some accident probably be derived from Lat. calamancus, which in the Middle Ages signified a hat. Richardson gives it as yet another stuff first made of camel's hair, but for this there is no foundation. It appears to have been a woollen material made plain, striped, checked, or figured, and glazed in finishing. At one time it was much used, particularly in the last century. In the Tatler, No. S5, it is said : "The habit of a draper, when he is at home is a light broad-cloth, with calamanco, or red waist- coat and breeches ; and 'tis remarkable that their wigs seldom hide the collars of their coats ; " and in the 96th number of the same periodical mention is made of a person " in bulk and stature larger than ordinary " who had on "a red coat, flung open to show a gay calamanco waistcoat." The stuff was made in the present century principally as a checked material, chequerei in the warp, so that the checks only appeared on one side. In the plain or striped varieties it was mainly used for skirting, and in upholstery. CAMBRIC. (Ger. kammertach ; Du. kamerysdoek ; Fr. cambray batiste; It. cambraja ; Sp. cambrai ; Port, camhraia ; Russ. kamcrtug.) Stow particularly states that cambrics "were first worn in England and accounted a great luxury in 15S0." This date for correctness might as well have its figures transposed and read 1S50, for in 157S, James Blackhouse, of Kirbye in Lonsdaile, had in stock M v elves iij quarters of canierycke " priced at 3'2s. The material must have been pretty well known throughout England when it reached a district so remote. But " honest John's " assertion can be even more conclusively confuted. On the 29th October, 1530, there appears in the Privy Purse Expenses of y VIII. an item, M paied to William Armerers wif for xxiij elles of cameryk for vj shirtes for the King at vjs. the elle." Sir Philip Sidney, in 1577-S, presented to Queen Elizabeth "a smock (chemise) of cameryke." Another gentleman, Sir Gawan Carew, gave her a like gar- ment" wrought with black work, and edged with bone-lace of gold." It may possibly have come into more general use at the date Stow gives, and mark the time when the great ruffs, at which Philip Stubbes is so very indignant, came to be commonly worn. Cambric was even thus early, if the satirist just named can be depended upon, so tine that the test thread was not so big as the smallest hair that is." Bailey gives cambric from " Cambray, a city in the French Nether- lands, a large and well-built city, considerable for its linen manufactures, especially cambrics, which took their names from hence," an account of the origin of the fabric generally received as correct. An estimate made in 15SS computed the annual produce of that city at GO.OOO pieces. Evidence of its value in the 16th century is given above; in the CAM ( 47 ) CAM Household Books of Lord William Howard, 1612-40, it is shown from 5s. 4d. to 12s. an ell, and to give again a representative price in the 18th century, the Custom House book of values for determining the duties to be levied in 1783 gave the average market value of cambrick at 6s. 8d. per yard. The importation of cambrics was restricted in 1745, and again in 1748. These measures having proved ineffectual, a third was passed in 1759, enacting, For the more effectual preventing the fraudulent Importation of Cambrics and French Lawns : 1. That, from the first of August, 1759, none such shall be imported, unless they be packed in bales, cases, or boxes, covered with sackcloth or canvas, containing each 100 whole pieces ; otherwise to be forfeited. 2. Cambrics and French Lawns shall be imported for Exportation only, to be lodged in the King's Warehouses, and not to be delivered out but under the like security and restrictions as prohibited East India goods. These shackles upon trade were increased by an Act passed in 1767, For effectually preventing the fraudulent importation, vending, and ■wearing of Cambricks and French Lawns, which provided, That no Cambrick or French Lawn should after the first day of July, 1767, be imported into any part of Great Britain, except into the Port of London only. Nor into the Port of London except in British ships, navigated according* to law ; nor without a licence under the hands of three or more of the Commissioners of his Majesty's Customs of England, which licence was to specify the quantity of such Cambricks or French Lawns, together with the marks of the packages and the name of the ship in which they were intended to be imported. Neglect of these requirements involved seizure of both ship and cargo. In 1786 these prohibitions were removed, but were afterwards again imposed. The following quotations not only give some particulars of the history of this material, but are intended, in common with other extracts adduced in this work, to illustrate the literature of our trade . The application of the term to cotton fabrics, as is usual with French printed stuffs, is a palpable misnomer. " Yon velvet, cambricke, silken-feathered toy." Rowland : LooJce to it, or I'll stable ye ! 1604. " Come, I would your cambrick were sensible as your finger, That you might leave pricking it for pitie." Shakespeare : Coriolanus (? 1607). " He hath ribbons of all the colours of the rainbow, inkles, caddas, cam- bricks, lawns." Id. : Winter's Tale, 1611. " Rebecca had by the use of a looking-glass, and by the further use of cer- tain attire made of cambrick upon her head, attained to an evil art." Tatlcr, No. 110. " H*re you might see the finest laces held up by the fairest hands, and these examined by the lustrous eyes of the buyers, delicate cambricks, muslins, and linens." Spectator, No. 552. <; Guard well thy pocket, for these Syrens stand To aid the labours of the diving hand; Confederate in the cheat, they draw the throng, And cambric handkerchiefs reward the song." Gay: Trivia, 1715. CAM ( 4S ) CAM CAMELINE. A stuff mentioned by Chaucer in the Romaunt of the Rose. " Anon dame Abstinence stremed Tooke on a robe of cameline." An earlier passage relating to it — " The clothe was ryche and ryght fyn, The champe (field) it was of red camelyn " — is quoted by Mr. Planche, who thinks it quite possible it may have been a manufacture similar to what we now call cashmere, and imported from the East. "M. le Due, however, contends that cameline was an inferior species of manufacture, of Phoenician origin, and quotes Joinville, who says ■ the King (Louis IX.) sent him to Portosa, and commissioned him to purchase for him over one hundred camelines of various colours to give to the Cordeliers when they returned to France.' He asserts also that it was always spoken of as a very common stuff, ( une etoffe tres-ordinaire, r in which he is certainly contradicted by the above quotation wherein it is described as 'rich and right fine.' He admits, however, that in the 13th century camelines were made at St. Quentin, and in the 14th at Amiens, Cambrai, Mechlin, Brussels, and Commercy , that they were of various qualities as well as colours, and that their prices differed accordingly, some costing only eleven or twelve sous per ell, and others twenty-four and twenty-eight sous." Cyclopaedia of Costume. CAMLET, Camblet. (Ger., Du. Icamelot ; Fr. camelot ; It. ciam- bellotto ; Sp. camelotte ; Russ. kamlot.) Perhaps no stuff has been so fruitful a subject of discussion as this. How etymological doctors have differed as to the root of the word may be seen from this passage in the Cydopcedia of E. Chambers. "Menage derives the French word camelot (whence our camblet) from .cam - belotto, a Levantine term for stuffs made with the fine hair of a Turkish goat ; whence the word cymatilis for Turkish camelot. Others call it capcllota, from capelhan, she-goat. Bochart makes zambelot a corruption of the Arabic giam al s a camel. Others fetch camblet from the bare Latin camelus, on which footing camblet should properly signify a stuff made of camel's bair." The list of possible roots is not even here exhausted, for camlet is given through chamal, Arabic for fine, and again as coming from the river Camlet in Glamorganshire, where some theorists assert that the stuff' was first manufactured in this country, and so denominated. This latter hypothesis needs no second thought, for it would by inference establish a fine woollen manufacture here at a period long before the means or skill necessary to such an industry could be found in this country. Confusion is even worse confounded if we turn to the etymology of mohair in an endeavour to find a clue to the truth. Here we have mohair given as a stuff made of mohair, the hair of the Angora goat, a denomination undoubtedly accurate ; but in the foreign equivalents of the term we have another maze of contradictions : Fr. moire, old Fr. mohere ; It. cambeMotto (in common with camlet), i>nvn<) di pel*
  • tton wool, Turkey carpets, &c. ; but the bulk of our trade with the East was then and for long afterwards only transacted at second hand through the Netherlands. The earliest mention of home-made camlets is to be found in Camden's Brittania, 1610, where, speaking of Coventry, it is said, " Its wealth, arising in the last age from the woollen and camblet manufacture, made * A statute of 12 and 14 Edward IV. includes " chamelet" with damask, satin, sarcenet, and every other cloth of silk • but this is undoubtedly on account of its being at the time a fabric as costly to purchase as others made of silk. CAM ( 50 ) CAM ic the only mart of this part." In the next century those of Brussels are said to exceed all other camlets for beauty and quality, those of England being reputed second. Camlet appears first in an inventory of the wardrobe* of Henry IV. " Seven yards of red chamlett at 13s. 4d. the remnant." Camlets of divers colours are shown in the Wa rd robe A ceo un ts of Edward IV., 14S0, at 30s. the piece, and black camlet at 4s. the yard ; in 1502 black camlet appears at 2s. 4d. the yard ; in 157S red and purple chamlett are severally valued at 4s. 6cL the yard, and " blue and browne chamlett " at 9 yards and 3 quarters for 28s. 6d. In the Charter of 1640, before quoted, ''camlets," "moyhair," and " Turkey grograms" are shown in pieces of 15 yards each, and the Book of Rates, 1675, contains the following entries relative to the material : s. d. Chamblettes, Unwatered or Mohairs, the yard. . ..30 Do. Watered, the vard 5 Do. Half-silk, half-hair, the yard . . . . 10 All other stuffs made of wool, or mixed with hair or thread, the lb. weight . . . . . . . . ..14 At this period it was worn by gentlemen. Pepys writes in his Diary, Jane 1, 1664, " After dinner I put on my new camelott suit, the best that ever I wore in my life, the suit costing me above £24." The entry above shows some descriptions of camlets to have been of mixed materials, characteristics ever since common to them, for in their production the changes have been rung with all materials in nearly every possible combination ; sometimes of wool, sometimes of silk, sometimes hair, sometimes of hair with wool or silk, at others of silk and wool warp and hair woof. These particulars are of camlets of the 18th century. Those of our day have had cotton and linen introduced into their com- position. They have been made plain and twilled, of single warp and weft, of double warp, and sometimes with double weft also with thicker yarn. Dr. Ure, with fine irony, concludes his account of them by saying that several fabrics of the same kind as camlet are now intro- duced under other names. " Then came the Bride, the lovely Medua (Medway) came, Clad in a vesture of unknowen geare And uncouth fashion, yet her well became, That seemed like silver, sprinckled here and theare With glittering spangs that did like starres appeare, And wav'd upon like water Chamelot (watered camlet)." Spenser: Faerie Qucene, 1590. * Meantime the Pastor shears their hoary beards, And eases of their hair the loaden herds ; Their camelots warm in tents the soldiers hold, And shield the shiv'ring mariners from cold." Dryden : Virgil, 1697. CAMLETTO, Camletteen. A sort of fine worsted camlets or came- lots (Bailky). Described in 1739 as " a stuff of combing wool." CAMMAKA, Cammaca, Camoca. A costly material in use in this country towards the end of the 14th century. Of its composition we know nothing, but it is considered as probably made of camel's CAN ( 51 ) CAN hair and silk, and of Eastern origin. It was used in ecclesiastical vest- ments, in the dress of royalty, but most frequently for draping state beds. The royal chapel of Windsor in 1385 had several vestments and altar cloths of white camoca. In the 17th Coventry Mystery, which represents the adoration of the Magi, fierod says : " In kyrtle of cammaka, kinge am I cladd." In its third application we find Edward the Black Prince bequeathing to his confessor " a large bed of red camoca with our arms embroidered at each corner," and in 1375 Edward Lord Despencer left to his wife 11 my great bed of blue camaka, with griffins, also another bed of camaka striped with white and black " (Dr. Rock). CANVAS, from the Lat. cannabis, Gr. Jcannabis, hemp, is literally hempen cloth. (Fr. canevas, It. canavaccio, Ger. segeltuch, Sw. segelduh, Sp. , Port, lona.) It was once used for outer clothing. " Striped canvas for doublets " (Dekker). " Look you, Francis, your white canvas doublet will sully." King Henry IV., Pt. I. Striped or tufted canvas with thread is mentioned in a charter of 1641, as well as Norman Canvas and Line, narrow Vandales or Vittry Canvas, Putch Barras and Hessen Canvas ; French Canvas and Line, ell aDd half-quarter broad or upwards, and Gutting or Spruce Canva3. These were coarse linens imported from France and the Netherlands, The following items can be found relative to canvas : " 1567. 60 yeards of canves, at 4d. a yeard. 1577. 14 elves of canvas, 14s. 1578. 11 elves and a half of canves, 26s. lOd. 7 elves and three quarters of can vis, 26s. Id. Yellow canvis, white canvis, coarse can vis, 12d. an ell." The difference in the prices i3 suggestive. In Lord William Howard's HousehoM Book (1612-40) canvas appears at 7d. the yard. The Book oj Rates shows "English tufted canvas" and "canvas of Shropshire making." " Others say that those tumblers and common players which shewed sundry games and pastimes to win the favour of the people, were wont to cover that passage over with canvas cloths and vails." North: Plutarch, 1579. " Like main-yards with canvas lined." Spenser. " And clasping to the mast, endur'd a sea That almost burst the deck, and from the lander-tackle Washed off a canvas-climber." Shakespeare : Pericles, 1609. ** His bounty ample as the wind that blew, Such barks for portage out of ev'ry bay In Holland, Zeeland, and in Flanders brings As spread the wide sleeve with their canvas wings." Drayton : Battle of Agincourt, 1627. 44 The canvass castles up they quickly rear." Fairfax. 44 The mountain pines assume new forms, Spread canvas wings, and fly through storms, And ride o'er rocks, and dance on foaming waves." Young : British Sailor's Exultation. e 2 CAP ( 52 ) CAP M Should lie draw his hand over a picture, where all is smooth and uniform, he would never be able to imagine how the several prominences and depressions of the human body would be shewn on a piece of plain canvass that has in it no unevenness or irregularity." Spectator, No. 416. " True poetry the painter's power displays, True painting emulates the poet's lays ; The rival sisters, fond of equal fame, Alternate change their office and their name ; Bid silent poetry the canvas warm, The tuneful page with sparkling pictures charm." Mason : Art of Painting. CAP. A generic term for head-coverings, which the word properly signifies. (A. -S. cceppe ; Fr . cape ; Ger. kappe ; Gr. skepo, to cover. ) For a descriptive and illustrated history of head-dresses the reader may be referred to the exhaustive article of Mr. Fairholt in the glossary attached to his Costume in England. The earliest form of ladies' head-dress was the cover-chief, or head- handkerchief. Then came the hood, universally worn during the 14th century, a revival of an Anglo-Saxon head covering. The close-fitting cap is said to have originated in docking the corners of the hood for the sake of comfort and convenience. We are told by Chambers that 1 ' the sera of caps and hats is referred to the year 1449, the first seen in these parts of the world being at the entry of Charles VII. into Rouen ; from that time they began by little and little to take place of the hoods or chaperoons, that had been used till then. M. le Gendre, indeed, goes further back : they began, says he, under Charles V. to let fall the angles of the hood upon the shoulders, and to cover the head with a cap, or bonnet ; when this cap was of velvet they called it mortier;* when of wool simply bonnet; the first was laced, the latter had no ornament besides two horns raised to a moderate height, one of which served in covering or uncovering." To attempt to trace the modern nondescript head-dress of ribbon, lace, muslin, or mixture of light materials is exceedingly difficult. Into the service of mediaeval and modern caps all kinds of fabrics have been pressed, and every age has shown diversity sufficient to fill a volume. We may find, perhaps, the clearest precedent in the last century. In the 36th number of the Connoisseur it is said, " But of all the branches of female dress, no one has undergone more alterations than that of the head. The long lappets, the horseshoe cap, the Brussels head, and the prudish mob pinned under the chin, have all of them had their day. The present mode has rooted out all these super- fluous excrescences, and in the room of a slip of cambrick or lace has planted a whimsical sprig of spangles or artificial flowrets." This was written in 1754, and some few years later caps of ribbons, laces, and feathers were used to cover the monstrous erections of hair and tow then fashionable, which we are told often added three feet to a lady's stature. These caps were equally remarkable with the coiffures for their extravagance, " rising high above the head and spreading out at the sides into a pile of ribbands and ornaments." • Hence probably mortar-board, the schoolboy's slang term for his squaio collegiate cap. CAP ( 53 ) CAP 11 The women in the reign of Charles VI. had their heads dressed in a high cap in the form of a sugarloaf ; a veil was tied to the top of this cap, and hung down more or less, according to the quality of the wearer. The veil of a trades- man's wife did not descend below the shoulder ; that of a knight's lady reached to the ground. In the reigns of Francis I. and Henry II. they wore little hats with feathers. From the time of Henry II. to the reign of Henry IV. they wore little caps with aigrettes." Town and Country Magazine, 1769. CAP, City Flat. In 1571 a law was passed that if any person above seven years of age (except maidens, ladies, gentlewomen, nobles, knights, gentlemen of twenty mark by the year in lands, and their heirs, and such as have borne office of worship) have not worn upon the Sunday and holyday (except it be at the time of his travell out of the city, town, or hamlet where he dwelleth) upon his head one cap of wool, knit, thicked, and dressed in England, and only dressed and finished by some of the trade of cappers, shall be fined 3s. 4d. for each day's transgression." From this law came the term statute-cap, used by Rosalind in Love's Labour's Lost — " Well better wits have worn plain statute -caps." It was repealed in 1597, but the cap long after continued to be worn by artificers, apprentices, and citizens. In a play of Dekker's — the Honest Whore, 1630 — it is highly spoken of : 11 It's light for summer, and in cold it sits Close to the skull, a warm house for the wits ; It shows the whole face boldly, 'tis not made As if a man to look on't were afraid ; Nor like a draper' shop, with broad dark shed ; For he's no citizen that hides his head. Hats, caps, as proper are to city gowns, As to armour helmets, or to kings their crowns." First worn by the nobility in the time of Henry VIII., it came after- wards into general use, and may still be seen occasionally on the heads of Bluecoat boys, whose whole dress is precisely similar to that common in the days of Edward VI., the founder of the school. "Blue coats were then the common habit of apprentices and serving-men, and yellow stockings were very generally worn at this period." Knight's Hist, Brit. Costume. CAPE. Literally a covering. In an inventory of the wardrobe of Henry VIII., given by Strutt, half-a-yard of purple cloth of baudkyn for a cape to one of the king's gowns is mentioned ; as also a Spanish cape of crimson satin, embroidered with Venice gold tissue, lined with crim- son velvet, with five pair of large aglets of gold. CAPUCHIN. A hooded cloak for women, worn about the middle of the 18th century, and so called from resembling those worn by the order of friars of that name. The 62nd number of the Connoisseur humor- ously deals with fashions supposed to have a religious tendency, and in- cludes this with other proselytizing modes : "The next part of our dress that I shall mention which savours of Popery is the Capuchin. This garment in truth has a near resemblance to that of the frier, whose name it bears. Our grandmothers had already adopted the hood ; their CAR ( 54 ) CAR daughters by a gradual advance introduced the rest ; but far greater im- provements were still in store for us. We all of us remember, for it is not above two years ago, how all colours were neglected for that of purple. In purple we glowed from the hat to the shoe ; and in such request were the ribbands and silks of that favourite colour, that neither the milliner, mercer, nor dyer himself could answer the demand." A curious passage in Spenser's Faerie Queene leads to the belief that the fashion was known at a much earlier period. In the third book Doubt is clad " In a discolour'd cote of straunge disguyse That at his back a brode Capuccio had." CARD (Fr. cardes ; Ger. Jcardatschen, harden, wollkratzen; It. cardi; Sp. cardas), a toothed instrument for disentangling and laying parallel the fibres of wool or cotton preparatory to spinning. Upon the suc- cessful performance of this operation much of the beauty of the manu- factured material depends. Carding was once necessarily performed by hand, for which coarse wire brushes were used, the fibre being laid upon one and combed with the other. The next step was to use, in the woollen manufacture, stock-cards, one of which was fixed to a bench and the other suspended from the ceiling, enabling a much larger quantity to be treated with far more ease. The activity of the cotton trade in the early part of the last century led to more efficient means of working the raw material, and through successive improvements the present carding engine has been perfected. Cards used in this machine are made of buff leather, in wbich great numbers of hooks of the finest steel are fixed, the leather being highly distended to receive them. These cards, each of which would take up a week of hand-labour, can be turned out by machinery at the rate of 9,000 an hour. They are afterwards fixed on a revolving drum. " With wiry teeth revolving cards release The tangled knots, and smooth the ravell'd fleece: Next moves the iron hand with fingers fine, Combs the wide card, and forms the eternal line." Erasmus Darwin. " The inventor of the carding engine is not known with certainty. It appears, however, that in 1748 Lewis Paul patented two different machines for carding, in one of which the cards were arranged on a flat surface, and in the other on a drum. . . . The invention of the crank and comb (improvements which admitted of continuous rolls of cotton being produced, instead of having to stop the machine every time a carding was finished, as in the original machine) has been given by some to Arkwright, by others to Hargreaves, the inventor of the jenny. Those who defend the claim of the former say that it was communicated to Hargreaves by one of Arkwright's workmen, who chalked out a sketch of it upon the table of a public house." (Tom- lin.son : Useful Arts and Manufactures.) It is, however, to Arkwright that the credit of establishing the process must be given. The importation of foreign wool cards was forbidden by an Act of 31) Eliz., c. 14, and again in 1630 Charles I. issued a proclamation wherein he observes "that iron-wire is a manufacture long practiced in the realm, whereby many thousands of our subjects have long been em- CAR ( 55 ) N CAR ployed : and that English wire is made of the toughest and best Osmond iron, a native commodity of this kingdom, and is much better than what comes from foreign parts, especially for the making of good wool-cards, without which no good cloth can be made. And whereas great com- plaints have been made by the wire-drawers of this kingdom, that by reason of the great quantities of foreign- wire lately imported, our said subjects cannot be set on work ; wherefore we prohibit the importation of foreign iron-wire, and wool-cards made thereof, as also hooks and eyes, and other manufactures made of foreign-wire. Neither shall any translate and trim up any old wool cards, nor sell the same either at home or abroad." These restrictions were renewed fourteen years later ; and again by 14 Chas. II., c. 19, it was enacted that " No forreign Wooll-cards, or forreign Card-wyer, or Iron wyer for making Wooll- cards shall be imported into England or Wales upon forfeiture of the same, or the value thereof." In the Booh of Rates of Charles II. the following entries appear relative to cards : " Stock Cards, the doz., £1 4s. Tow Cards, new, the dozen, 5s. Wooll ] new, the dozen, 10s. Cards \ old, the dozen, 6s." CARD A, Carduus. An inferior silk, supposed to have been made of the coarse outer filaments of cocoons, probably used for linings. Four- pence an ell was paid in 1278 for 119 ells of carda, for thirty-four surcoats to be used in a tournament. CARDINAL. A short cloak, first worn with a scarlet hood, worn about the middle of the 18th century. The 62nd number of the Connoisseur includes this with other garments supposed to have a religious tendency (see Capuchin), and proposes that every one shall be obliged to practise the austerities of the sect they imitate ; so that, for example, the Cardinals shall be compelled to lead a single life, and the Capuchins to go barefoot. They seem to have been inconsistently diverse in colour. " As to those of gayer colours, you need not be told, that there are White and Grey Friers abroad as well as Black ; and as the English are so remarkable for improving on their originals, we shall not then be surprised at the variety of colours that appear among us." CARDINAL WHITE. This stuff, together with Caltjeskin (calveskin), appears in Hakluyt's Voyages, but no other mention of either has been met with. Whites — that is, undyed cloths — are frequently enumerated, and this may have been only a quaintly-designated de- scription of superior quality. CARPET. (Ger. teppi'clie, Du. tapyten, vloer tapyten, Fr. tapis, It. tappeti, Sp. alfombras, alcatifas, tapetes), said to have been originally derived from Cairo, but more probably from the Lat. carpeta, woollen cloth, through carpere, to pluck wool. Carpets have been quite diverted from their original use, which was in covering tables,* sideboards, or cupboards. At the Reformation there * In this sense is derived the proverbial phrase, " On the carpet," that is, brought to the table for discussion. CAR ( 56 ) CAR was a great " spoiling of the Egyptians ; " so that, as Fuller tells us in his Church History of Britain (1656), "Private men's halls were hung with altar cloths ; their tables and beds covered with copes instead of carpets aud coverlets," and Peter Heylin (1600-1662), in his History of the Reformation, refers to men considering whether copes might not " be handsomely converted into private uses, to serve as carpets for their t*ble*, coverlids to their beds, or cushions to their chairs and windows." In 1577 the inventory attached to the will of Archbishop Parker, includes "one carpet of black velvet for the little bord, fringed with silver and gould, lyned with taffita ; " and Richard Bellasio, of Morton, Co. Durham, in 1596 bequeaths to his nephew, among other things, the " best Turquey corpett for the long taible, and other carpets for cobborts (cupboards) within the great chamber at Morton." These Turkey carpets, notices of which appear in the Hakluyt Voyages, as imported at the beginning of the 16th century, were much esteemed and very costly. Mr. Browne, in a letter to Sir Philip Sidney dated November 29, 1602, says, "I have bought a Turkey carpet for my Lord Bergavenny, seven Dutch ells long (about 16 feet) ; it cost £27 sterling, but is esteemed very fine and well worth the money." In 1608 Lady Elizabeth Askwith bequeaths to Robert Myers, then Lord Mayor of York, "a carpet cloth of crewells which is of divers colours, and in the middest and eyther eod wrought over with goulde." Lord William Howard's Household Booh (1612-40) contains an entry of " eight yeards of purple vellet in grane for two cobberd cloths," at 24s. a yard, and a more particular account of a carpet is given in the purchase of " five yards of crimson vellet for a carpet," £3 10s. 6d., with items as follows for trimming and making up : " 4 yeards of fring, 21s. Silver and embroidering it, 22s. Base (baize), silk, and making it, 9s." Such carpets were too valuable to be trodden under foot. The early fashion of floor covering was to spread sweet rushes or straw over its surface, and it is only within modern times that fabrics have been used for that purpose. So late as 1741 a carpet is defined as "a sort of covering worked either with needle or on a loom, to be spread on a table or trunk, an estrade, or even a passage or floor." However, carpets in their recent application had place in great houses at an e irly period. The first mention of their being thus used is generally sated to be found in Stow's account of the Expenses of the Earl of Lancaster, who is there said to have had in 1314 " four clothes ray" (■itriped) for carpets in his hall ; but an earlier record can be found (quoted by Tomlinson) of Sinchius, Bishop of Toledo, in 1255, covering his fl »or with tapestry, a practice in which he was followed by Eleanor, Queen of Edward I, while further mention of bed-side carpets appears in 1301. Thf practice was at first looked upon with great disfavour as effeminate. Knights who received their title rather by favour than merit or service were dubbed Knight* of the Carpet, and in this senne Shakespeare speaks of " carpet consideration." CAR ( 57 ) \ CAR " On the morrow of her coronation the Queen (Mary) made Fourscore and Ten Knights of the Carpet. Dubb'd in her Chamber of Presence at West- minster, by the Earl of Arundel, who had Knighted before the Knights of the Bath." Cotgrave defines a carpet-knight as " one that ever loves to be in women's chambers." Other authorities ascribe the title to those who were knighted for services in the cause of the arts and sciences.* " In the 15th century, leather, decorated by gauffering, embossing, or stamping, came into use for the decoration of rooms as wall-hangings, and even as carpeting. Leathers for laying down in the rooms in sum- mer time ' was considered a refinement of luxury ' (vide inventories of the Duke of Burgundy). In 1416Isabeauof Bavaria ordered 'six leather carpets for the floor,' which was considered one of the ' delicate devices of the German coquette.' Down to the period of the Valois kings, as shown in many paintings, the practice was to strew the floors with rushes, hay, sweet-smelling herbs, flowers, and foliage. This custom prevailed until the time when the velvet-pile or Oriental carpets came into use, and the looms of the West succeeded in imitating them. The strewing of the floors then gave place to the velvet fabric. Touching the rush-covered floors, it was pronounced an unnecessary increase of expenditure on the part of Cardinal Wolsey when he caused the rushes at Hampton Court to be changed every day. Sir Thomas More (1483) describes Elizabeth, the widowed queen of Edward IV., when in the sanctuary at Westminster, as ' sitting alone amongst the rushes in her grief and distress.' Bradshaw, a.d. 1500, writes: * All herbes and flowers fragrante, fayre, and swete, Were strewed in halls and layd under theyr fete.' In 1495, in the Drapers' Hall, mats were placed in the Chequer Chamber, and rushes in the hall." (Mats and Coverings.^) The manufacture of carpets, so-called, is traced back in the records of French monastic orders as far as the lObh and 11th centuries, but in all likelihood these were merely embroidered and not woven fabrics. The actual manufacture of carpets in Europe is assigned to the reign of Henry IV. of France, between 1589 and 1610, and is said to have been introduced there direct from Persia. But an earlier attempt had been made by an Englishman who earnestly promoted new discoveries and improvements. This was Mr. Richard Hakluyt, who, in his second volume of Voyages, directs Morgan Hubblethorne, a dyer, to proceed in 1579 to Persia, to learn there the arts of dyeing, and of making of carpets (Anderson). An artisan who had quitted France in disgust established the industry in England about 1750. The well-known Brussels carpets were first made at Wilton, where the manufacture was introduced from Tournai, in Belgium, rather more than a * Knights of the Carpet or Carpet Knights are not military, but civil knights, such as iiiayors, lawyers, and so on, so called because they receive their knight- hood kneeling on a carpet, and not on a battle field. Dr. Brewer. f A learned little treatise on these and cognate subjects, published by a well- known firm of dealers in such articles. CAR ( 58 ) CAS century ago, and are now principally made at Kidderminster. Carpets may be described as migratory manufactures, In- almost every instance the industries after being successfully established in a town have been taken elsewhere, though still retaining the names denoting the place where they were first made. Thus, Axminster carpets are principally produced at Glasgow, Wilton, and Kilmarnock, Kidder- minster carpets in Scotland, and Wilton carpets in Yorkshire. " With whom was Jhon Duke of Burbon, and the Cardinall his brother, a prelate more mete for a ladye's carpet than for an ecclesiastical pulpit." Eall : Edward 1 V. " If before you return you could procure a singular good workman in the art of Turkish carpet -making, you should bring the art into this realme, and also thereby increase worke to youre company.'' Haklutt: Voyages, vol. i. t 1582. " There's a carpet i' th' next room, put it on, with this scarfe over thy face, and a cushion o' thy head, and be ready when I call." Ben Jonson: The Silent Woman, 1609. " What, are those desks fit now ? Set forth the table, The carpet and the chayre." Id. : The Staple of Newes, 1625. " There sat the fair, A glittering train on costly carpets rang'd, A group of beauties all in youthful prime, Of various features, and of various grace." John Scott (1730-1783) : Amicell. CARPMEAL. A kind of coarse cloth made in the North of England. Phillips : Nero World of Words, 1720. CARRELLS, Currelles. Mentioned with bays, fustians, and mock- adoes, as " works mixed with silk, saietrie,* or linen yarn " in the Book of Drapery, 1570, belonging to the ball at Norwich. They appear in a 16th century MS. as in pieces of 4 lbs. weight, valued at £1 per piece. In the inventory of the stock of James Backhouse, of Kirbye in-Lons- dale, taken in September, 1578, carrell is priced at 14d. the yard. In the Booh oj Hates they are shown as of the value of £1 6s. 8d. per piece of 15 yards. CASHMERE. A fine soft woollen fabric, first imported from Cash- mere. Shortly after an imitation under the name of Thibet cloth w.ns started in Yorkshire, and afterwards in 1824 at Paisley. Thet-e were twilled fabrics of fine worsted yarn made from prime wool, and scoured, raised, and cropped. CASHMERK SHAWLS. These celebrated articles are made in the beautiful valley of Cashmere, in the north-west of India. Their bigfa price ia due to the slow and laborious process of manufacture, which is such that a fine shawl having a pattern over its entire surface is some- times a j ear on the looms, and even an ordinary shawl will take from sixteen to twenty weeks. It is said that although as much as £70l> sterling has been known to be paid for a single shawl, that very few of the finest of them find their way into Europe. The commonest qualitien * Yarn of say — i.e., worsted. CAS ( 59 ) CAS range in price as low as £10. The annual produce of the country ia estimated at 30,000 shawls, occupying about 16,000 looms, and near o0,000 workpeople. Under the Mogul emperors Cashmere found work for 30,000 looms. The fabric is principally woven in strips, which are afterwards ingeniously joined together ; the borders are worked in needlework by hand, each colour employed occupying a separate needle. No shawls are made except upon order, and according to patterns already approved. The great excellence of these fabrics has never been equalled. The genuine wool has been imported into this country, and the greatest care exercised in working it up ; the manufacture has been established in the Punjaub and carried on by native Cashmerians ; but still all imitations remain imitations. For a long while it was believed that the water of the district used in the solution of rice starch, in which the wool is frequently washed before use, gave to it a peculiar suppleness, a belief the natives did not dispute. More recently it has been stated that the wool used for the genuine shawls is taken from the inner winter fleece of the Thibet yak, as well as the Cashmere goat — both in- habiting intensely cold and dry table lands from 14,000 to 16,000 feet above the sea level ; whereas the wool exported from the province was largely mixed with the hair of the common domesticated goat. It is, however, very probable that the unwearying patience and undoubted natural skill of the Oriental weavers form considerable factors in the result, while the particular attention paid to the preparation of the wool, which is most carefully cleansed, and so scrupulously sorted that scarce a third of the original bulk remains for spinning, would also have a proportionate influence. The French, in factories at Lyons, Nismes, and Paris, are believed to have been most successful in copying these fabrics, though very fair imitations have been produced at Paisley, Norwich, and Edinburgh. The industry was first started in Paisley, about 1802, and was carried on very successfully until the French, by importing Cashmere wool, brought into the market some superior shawls, and forced the Paisley manufacturers also to procure finer wool from the East, first raw, and afterwards in spun yarn. Cashmere shawls were first imported into this country in 1666. Attempts have been made to naturalize the Cashmere goat in Europe, with more particular pertinacity in France ; but the results have not been favourable, the fleece, as might be expected, losing its luxuriance in a warmer climate, and its fineness when the animal was deprived of its natural food. CASTOR. Properly an aromatic substance taken from bags in the inguinal region of the beaver, having in smell some resemblance to musk, whence through the Gr. kastor, connected with the Sanscrit kasturi, musk, the word comes. The name, however, is best known as applied to a hat, from hats of beaver-fur having once been fashionable, and is still met with in that sense in literature where a writer is at a loss for a synonym. It was also once applied to the fur of the beaver, and to the beaver itself. A curious paragraph in the Cyclopaedia of E. Cham- bers (1741) is sufficiently interesting to deserve quotation : " Castor skin, the furr or slun of an amphibious animal called castor, or beaver, sometimes found in France, Germany, and Poland, but most abun- CAT ( 60 ) CATX dantly in the province of Canada in North America : formerly it appears also to have been found in England. But there is no such animal known among us now. Its chief use is in the composition of hats and furs. Besides this, in 1669 an attempt was made to employ it in other merchandizes. Accordingly, a manufacfactory was settled on the Fauxhourg S. Antoine, near Paris, where they made cloths, flannels, stockings, &c, of castor, with a mixture of wool. The manufacture flourished for a while, but soon decayed, it being found by experience that the stuffs lost their dye when wet, and when dry again they were harsh and stiff as felts." " The merchants distinguish three kinds of castor, though all equally the spoils of the same animal : these are new castor, dry castor, and/ai castor : new castor, called also Winter castor and Muscovite castor, because ordinarily reserved to send into Muscovy, is that taken in the winter huntings. This is the best and most esteemed for rich furrs, as having lost none of its hair by moulting. Dry castor, or lean castor, is the result of the summer huntings, when the beast is moulted, and has lost part of its hair : this being much inferior to the former is little used in furrs, but mostly in hats. Fat castor, usually called Old-coat, is that which has contracted a certain fat, unctuous humour, by sweat exhaled from the bodies of the savages, who have worn it for some time : this, though better than the dry, is yet only used for hats." In 1638 the manufacture of demi-castors, or hats not wholly made of beaver fur, was expressly forbidden by Charles I. CATALAPHA. A silk stuff of this name is catalogued in Charles I.'s Charter of 1641. No other mention of it can be found. CAT-SKINS have been used for a variety of purposes, but most fre- quently to be dyed in imitation of sable. It was once stated in a com- mittee of the House of Commons that it was a common practice in London to decoy the animal and kill it for the sake of the skin. CAUL, also termed Creatine, Creton, Crespine, Crespinette, was a net- work of gold enclosing the hair, often set with jewels. It was worn first in the reign of Edward I. In a 14th century romance, called The King of Tars, the Soldan's daughter is arrayed " In cloth of rich purple palle, And on her head a comely calle." The quotations which follow sufficiently describe the article and its use, and need no comment : u A fret of golde she had next her here." Chaucer (1328-1400) : Legend of Good Women. " And everich on her head A rich fret of golde, which withouten drede Was full of stately net stones set." Id. : Tlic Floicre and tJic Leaf. " What guyle is this, that those her golden tresses She doth attyre under a net of gold ; And with sly skill so cunningly them dresses That which is gold or heare, may scarce be told." Spenser (1552-1599) : Sonnet xxiviii. 11 Ne spared they to strip her naked all There when they hud detpoU'd her tire and caul, Such as she was, their eyes might her behold." Id. : Faerie Qucent. CAV ( 61 ) CER 1 — " For I suppose that some of you have seen towels, napkins, nets, caules, kerchiefs and coifes woven of such thread, which would not burn or consume in the fire, but when they were foul or soiled with occupying, folk flung them into the fire and took them forth again clean and fair." Philemon Holland (1551-1636) : Plutarch. " A quiver on her shoulders small he hanges with crooked bow In steade of golden caule, and mantel braue shulde hange below." Phaer : Virgil's JStieidos, 1558. " Some of our ancient ladies of the Court exercise their fingers in the needle, others in Cawlworke, diuerse in spinning of silke. ,, Holinshed : Disc, of England, 1577. " These glittering caules of golden plate, Wherewith their heads are richly decked, Make them to seem an angel's mate In judgment of the simple sect." Stephen Gosson: Pleasant Quizes for Upstart Newfangled Gentlewomen, 1596. M After the manner of women he puts a cawle upon his head." Prynne : Histriomastrix, 1633. " Her head with ringlets of her hair is crown'd, And in a golden caul the curls are bound." Dryden : Virgil, 1697. C A VALLEYS. Dyed cotton cloths of considerable excellence, made by the Indians on the Isthmus of Panama, imported here in the 18 th century, and used for counterpanes and table-covers. CELESTINES. A stuff mentioned in an Act of Parliament (1 Rich. III.) of 1483. CENDAL, Sendall, Sandall. A silken fabric frequently mentioned in church inventories and early poems. The Doctor of Physick of Chaucer wears garments " lined with taffata and sendelle." In the Vision oj Piers Plowman, a poem presumably of the same period, is an address to " ye lovely ladies With youre long fyngres, That ye have silk and sandal To sowe, whau tyme is ; " and in Sir Thomas Malory's History of Prince Arthur, 1470, is a passage relating how " the old man made Sir Galahad unarm ; and he put on him a coat of red sendall with a mantel upon his shoulder furred with fine erminas." We have in Thynne's Animadversions on Speghfs Chaucer, 1598, a very valuable contemporary description of the material, leaving no doubt as to its composition. "Sendall you expoui.d by a thynne stuff lyke cypres ; but yet was a thynne stuff lyke sarcenett, and of a raw kynde of sylke or sarcenett, but coarser and narrower than the sarcenett now ys, as myselfe can remember." CERE-CLOTH, Cerement. Waxed cloth in which to wrap dead bodies, from the L. cera, beeswax. Sir Thomas Browne, in his Hydrotaphia, 1658, describes a dead body "sound aud handsomely cere-clothed that after seventy-eight years was found incorrupted." CHA ( 62 ) CHE CHALLIS. A fabric of silk and worsted introduced at Norwich abont 1832, when it speedily became fashionable. Mr. James speaks of it very highly ; in fact, he describes it as " the neatest, best, and most elegant silk and worsted article ever manufactured. It was made on a similar principle to the Norwich crape, only thinner and softer, composed of much finer materials, and instead of a glossy surface, as in Norwich crapes, the object was to produce it without gloss, and very pliable and clothy. The best quality of Challis when finished with designs and figures (either produced in the loom or printed) was truly a splendid fabric."* CHECK (Fr. echiquier, a chess-board) is derived from the ancient practice of the Court of Exchequer to settle accounts by means of coun- ters or tallies on a table covered with checkered cloth. This is the proper mode of rendering the counter-register used as a money security, now generally written Cheque. CHEKLATON, Ciclatoun, Siglatoun, Sicklatoun. A rich fabric worn during the Middle Ages, supposed to have been first brought from Persia and to have been known there as ciclatoun, bright and shining. Chaucer in the Rime of Sir Thopas describing the knight's garments, says : " Of Brugges were his hosen broun, His robe was of ciclatoun; " and in an old inventory of the vestments in use in St. Paul's Cathedral is a cope made of cloth of gold, called ciclatoun. Spenser, in the Fa'erit Queene, shows a " Gyant monstruous " in " a jacket, quilted richly rare, Upon checklaton, he was straungely dight." Strutt thinks this stuff to have been the same as checkiratus, a cloth of curiously- wrought chequer work worn by the Normans. There is, how- ever, nothing in these authorities, with the exception of the item quoted above from the ecclesiastical inventory, incompatible with the explicit description of Spenser in his Present State of Ireland, 1633, where, after describing certain garments, he says, " All these that I have rehearsed unto you be not Irish garments, but English ; for the quilted leather jacke is old English ; for it was the proper weede of the horseman, as ye may reade in Chaucer, where he describeth Sir Thopas his apparrell and armoure, when he went to fight agaynst the Gyant in his robe of shecklaton, which shecklaton is that kind of guilded leather with which they use to embroider theyr Irish jackes." CHEMISE, Camus, Camis. The innermost garment of women ; anciently known as shift or smock. (Fr. chemise ; L. camisia, a night gown; Gaelic, caimis, a shirt. Donald.) Chaucer mentions smocks " embroidered before and behind with coal-black silk." Spenser gives a detailed description of an elaborate chemise in the account of the fight between Redagund and Artegall, when the Amazon was dressed " All in a Camis light of purple silke Woven uppon with silver, subtly wrought, And quilted upon sattin white as milke, Trayled with ribbands diversely destraught, Like as the workeraan had their courses taught; Which was short tucked for light motion Up to her ham ; but when she list, it raught Down to her lowest heele." • llisturif of the WortUd Manufacture. CHE ( 63 ) CHI ^ __^______ > Perfumed smocks, at three pounds a smock, are mentioned in East- ward Hoe, 1604. CHEMISETTE. A diminutive of chemise ; a garment worn above the chemise. CHENILLE. So called from its resembling a caterpillar in softness, from the chenille or cotton caterpillar, a great enemy of the cotton plant. Cotgrave, in giving a list of the taffiities known to him, gives "Taffeta, chenille stript (striped)." CHINCHILLA.. The fur of a beautiful little animal found at great altitudes in various parts of South America, and closely resembling the rabbit. The delicate grey fur is used on the natural skin. CHINTZ, Chints. A word of modern introduction from the Hin- dustanee (where it signifies spotted) written with z final, though s must be pronounced. Richardson. (Pers. chinz ; Fr. indiennes ; Ger. zitze; It. indiane ; Russ. siz ; Sp. chites, zaraza.) The importation of printed or stained calicoes appears to have been coeval with the estab- lishment of the East India Company. * The earliest manufacture of the kind in England was introduced about 1676 by a Frenchman, who established works for the purpose near Richmond. The rapid increase of the trade excited the jealousy and apprehension of the weavers of woollen and silken fabrics. In The Ancient Trades Decayed, Repaired Again, <£c, by a Country Tradesman, a pamphlet of 1678, it is said, "Instead of green sey that was wont to be used for children's frocks, is now used painted and India stained and striped calicoes, and instead of a perpetuana or shalloon to line men's coats with, is used sometimes a glazened calico, which in the whole is not above 12s. cheaper, and abundantly worse." To pacify the weavers — then, as ever, a turbulent body — an Act professedly "for the more effectual employing the poor, by encouraging the manufactures of this Kingdom" was passed in 1699 (11 Will. III., c. 10), prohibiting East India chintzes being worn here, and only allowing them admittance on condition of their being re- exported. Amsterdam and Rotterdam became the chief markets for these goods. Davenant, in an official report written in 1712, computes that Holland took from us in the four years from 1702 to 1705 inclusive near £95,000 worth annually of Indian wrought silk, Bengal mixed stuffs, and calicoes painted, dyed, printed, or stained in those parts. The effect of the Act of 1699 was to cause several print works to be established in and about London, and their productions, both by their cheapness and attractiveness, taking the public fancy, the weavers * A proclamation by Charles I., in 1631, enumerated the goods which might be imported from or exported to the East Indies. The legalized exports were perpetuanoes and drapery, pewter, saffron, woollen stockings, silk stockings and garters, riband-roses edged with gold lace, beaver-hats with gold and t Uver bands, felt hats, strong waters, knives, Spanish leather shoes, iron, and looking-glasses. The permitted imports were various spices and drugs, rich carpets of Persia and of Cambaya, quilts of satin, taffaty, painted callicoes, benjamin, dam*sks, satins and taff aties of China, quilts of China embroidered with gold, quilts of Pitania embroidered with silk, galls, worm-seeds, sugar- candy, China dishes, and puslanes (porcelains) of all sorts. History of Commerce.. CHI ( 64 ) CHI quickly found themselves in as bad a case as before, so that great dis- tress prevailed amongst them. A play was produced for their benefit, to which Swift wrote a prologue, in which he says : 11 Chintzes are gaudy and engage our eyes Too much about the party-coloured dyes." The Press also, with misdirected zeal, attempted to repress the cheaper goods in favour of those more expensive ones which were considered to be proportionately beneficial to trade. De Foe, in his Weekly Review dated January 31, 1708, gives an account of the popularity of chintzes, with valuable particulars as to their previous employment. He says ; " The general fancy of the people runs upon East India goods to that degree that the chints and painted calicoes, which before were only made use of for carpets, quilts, &c, and to clothe children and ordinary people, because (in time previous to 1700) now the dress of our ladies ; and such is the power of a mode, as we saw some of our persons of quality dressed in Indian carpets, which a few years before their chambermaids would have thought too ordinary for them, the chints were advanced from lying upon their floors to their backs ; from the footcloth to the petticoat ; and even the queen herself from this time was pleased to appear in China and Japan, I mean China silks and calico. Nor was this all, but it crept into our houses, our closets, and bedchambers : cur- tains, cushions, chairs, and at last beds themselves, were nothing but calicoes and Indian stuffs, and in short almost everything that used to be made of wool or silk, relating rather to dress of tbe women or the furniture of our house, was supplied by the Indian trade." Another print of the same period gives corroborative testimony : 11 The very weavers and sellers of calico will acknowledge that all the mean people, the maid servants, and indifferently poor persons who would otherwise clothe themselves, and were usually clothed in their women's stuffs manufac- tured at Norwich and London, or in cantaloons and crapes, &c, are now clothed in calico or printed linen ; moved to it as well for the cheapness as the lightness of the cloth and gaiety of the colours. The children universally whose frocks and coats were all either worked at Coventry, or of striped thin stuffs made at Spitalfields, appear now in printed calico or printed linen ; let any but cast their eyes among the meaner sort playing in the streets, or of the better sort at boarding schools, and in our families ; the truth is too plain to be denied." Tinkering legislation was again resorted to. Another Bill, "for the Preservation and Encouragement of the Woollen and Silken Manufac- tures of this Kingdom," was sent by the Commons to the Upper House in 1712. As the occasion became memorable, we give an old account of it : "The Lords having heard Council, and examin'd several Persons for and against the said Bill, put off the further Consideration thereof for Six Weeks ; and in order to allay the Murmurings of the Weavers, on that Occasion, address'd the King, that he would be pleased to order the Commissioners of Trade, during the Recess of Parliament, to prepare a Scheme to be laid before them in the approaching Sessions, for the effectual Encouragement of the said Manufactures, by discouraging the Wear of Callicoes. The Weavers taking this to be a rejecting of the Bill, some Thousands of them, with their Wives and Children, repair'd in a tumultuous Manner from Spilil'ji, Ids to Wtttmkuttr, where croudin^ the Passages to the House of Lords, they demanded Justice of their Lordships as they pass'd : But Detachments of the Horse-Guards beiu^ CLO ( 65 ) ' CLO sent to prevent their doing Mischief, the Mutineers return'd home, without doing other Damage than tearing a few Callicoe Gowns off the Back of divers Women they met ; and being arriv'd at their respective Habitation, Peace was preserv'd in that Neighbourhood by the Train'd- Bands of the Tower Hamlets for a few Days." This was the prelude to a more serious outbreak, which resulted in the committal of several of the rioters to prison. The agitation was, however, successful, in so far that an Act was passed shortly after, imposing a duty of 3d. per square yard on all printed calicoes, which was doubled in 1714. Even this measure was too mild, since white calicoes continued to be largely imported, and the continued clamour of the weavers caused the enact- ment in 1720 of a prohibition of all printed calico whatever, under a penalty of £5 on the wearer and £20 on the seller of each piece of such calico. Printed linens were still permitted. This law was modified in 1730, when calicoes of linen warp and cotton weft were allowed to be printed, subject to a duty of 6d. per square yard, which was again altered in 1774, to admit the all-cotton calicoes of Arkwright. The duty was at the same time reduced to 3d. a yard, raised in 1806 to 3|d. The duty was wholly repealed in 1831. " Let a charming chintz and Brussels lace "Wrap my cold limbs, and shade my lifeless face." * Pope : Moral Essays, 1735. " And when she sees her friend in deep despair, Observes how much a chintz exceeds mohair." lb. "The chamber in which they slept breathes the richest and purest of all odours, unalloyed by the fumes which cannot but arise where the sleeper lies under two or three blankets and a quilt, for the bed- covering here is nothing more than a fine chintz." Cook: Voyages. " As suppose an ingenious gentleman should write a poem of advice to a callico-prhiter ; do you think there is a girl in England that would wear any- thing but the taking of Lisle or the battle of Oudenarde ? " Tatler, No. 3. See Prints. CLOAK. A garment of great antiquity. In all periods cloaks have varied very little, save in being at times short or long, ornamental or useful. They have frequently been common to both sexes, and by sumptuary laws of the time of Edward IV. were legally regulated. Then no person under the degree of a lord was allowed to wear a cloak which was not of sufficient length ' ' as beyng upright, to cover s prevey membres and buttocks upon pain of being fined 40s." The fashion of wearing so short cloaks has frequently recurred. A particular account of a cloak appears in the Wardrobe Accounts of Elizabeth of York under date of June, 1502 : * Narcissa, in this frequently- quoted passage from Pope, was the celebrated actress, Mrs. Oldfield. She was actually buried in Brussels lace. " Her corpse, having been completely enwrapped in Brussels lace, was conveyed to the Jerusalem Chamber, Westminster, where, after lying in state throughout the day, it was buried at eleven at night in the Abbey." CLO ( 66 ) CLO "Itm. to Henry Bryan, of London, mercer, for eight yerdes of blake damaske for a cloke for the Quene, at vij s . iiij d . the yerd. " For fyve yerdes of blake sarcenet for lyning to the same cloke, at iiij e . the yerde. " For a yerde and iij quarters of blake velvet for the bordering of the same, at x 9 . the yerd." Cloaks of light costly materials have been worn by men, particularly in the dissolute courts of the early Stuarts. Pepys wears at different times a camlet cloak with gold buttons, a velvet cloak, and a cloak lined with velvet, and gaudy cloaks " three mansions' price almost " are mentioned by Massinger. " My rich cloak laced with pearl." Patient Grissell, 1603. " Because we walk in jerkins and in hose, Without an upper garment, cloak, or gown, We must be tapsters running up and down." Kowland : Knave of Hearts, 1613. " Here is a cloak cost fifty pound, wife, Which I can sell for thirty, when I ha' seene All London in't and London has seen me." Ben Jonson : Tlie Devil is an Ass, 1616. " I learn to dance already and wear short cloaks." Jasper Mayne : City Match, 1639. " 'Tis an heir got Since his father's death into a cloak of gold, Outshines the sun." The Itehellion, a Tragedy, 1643. CLOCKS " are the gores of a ruff, the laying in of the cloth to make it round, the plaits " (Handle Holme). It was anciently applied to an ornament on stockings (" Quirkes and clocks about the ankles." Stubbs : Anatomie of Abuses), a fashion which has been recently revived, after having had a period of popularity in the reign of Anne. CLOTH, from the A.-S. clath, cloth, plural claths, clothes, garment 3 , the earliest textile fabric of this country ; that which, until the introduction of cotton, mainly upheld our commercial greatness. On this account, and, in a lesser degree, because drapers (as their name implies) were primarily dealers in cloth, the article deserves extended mention. The early Britons appear to have always had some knowledge of cloth making, either from the island having originally been peopled by Gauls, or thx-ough after intercourse with that nation. Roman historians record that their legions, on landing in Kent, found the natives "like the Gauls," advanced in arts. From the same source we learn that the Gauls at that time had manufactures of fine wool, dyed of various colours. These industries were fostered and improved by the Romans, who had then attained considerable perfection in weaving. According to Camden, they established imperial weaving-houses for both linens and woollens at Winchester. " We have nlao the greatest reason <<> believe, that the inhabitants of South Britain w< re acquainted with the arts of dressing, spinning, and weaving both tin x and wool before the arrival of the Romans, because their neighbours the (Hull bad long understood them ; and as a proof, we may add that the inhabi- CLO ( 67 ) CLO tantsoftheCassiterides,or Scilly Islands, were then clothed, and their personal appearance was as follows : — A long black tunic reaching down to their ancles , and bound round the waist with a girdle ; they wore their beards long, and hang- ing on each side of their mouths like wings." (Strabo, lib. iii.) " Besides, we are assured that the inhabitants of Kent and the sea-coasts, were by far more civilized than the inland Britons; therefore, it almost amounts to a proof of their having garments, though they are not particu- larly described. " The Gauls made several sorts of Cloth ; the first and most valuable was manufactured of fine wool of different tints, which being spun into yarn, was woven chequer-wise, so as it might fall into small squares of various colours. Another garment they made of coarser wool, which was very thickly woven ; this cloth was used by the Romans themselves in cold weather ; also a very thick kind of Cloth they used to make of wool driven tightly together without spinning or weaving, which if worked up with vinegar, was so hard and impe- netrable that it was esteemed a good guard against the edge or point of a sword ; and what was sheared off, and came from it, (when taken out of the cop- pers and leads where it was dressed,) made excellent flocks, which were used in stuffing mattresses." Strutt. When the island at the departure of the Romans became the successive prey of Saxons, Danes, and Normans, weaving naturally declined, and, save as a domestic avocation, became extinct. That it was still preserved we find from King Alfred's mother training her daughters to spin, and by that sovereign's will styling the female side of his house "the spindleside." Finer descriptions of cloth (then approaching high excellence in the Netherlands) were doubtless imported. We find Ethelred, in 967, exacting at Billingsgate tolls of cloth from the Easterling merchants of Thames Street. It is common to assume that the manufacture of cloth was wholly lost here during the Norman era, until re-established by Edward III. But although the land — racked by successive struggles against invaders and torn by internal warfare — was probably worn out at the Conquest, its commerce ruined, and its industries enfeebled, yet mention of home- made fabrics during this period occurs so frequently among its scanty records that comparative excellence was surely again attained. Sir Matthew Hale says, " In the time of Henry II. and Richard I. this kingdom greatly flourished in the art of manufacturing woollen cloth." We find in Selden's England's Epinomis a plain proof that broad cloth was made in England in the time of Richard I. , where is prescribed that woollen cloth, wherever it be made, shall be all of one breadth, viz., of two ells within the lists, and of the same goodness in the middle as on the edges (Anderson). This regulation was afterwards incor- porated in Magna Charta, one clause of which stipulated that there be one breadth of dyed cloth, russets, and haberjects — that is to say, two yards within the lists. * A weavers' gild was founded in the reign of Henry I., and Stow notices its subsequent confirmation : "Also, I read that the same Henry II., in the 31st of his reign, made a confirmation * One measure of Wine shall be through the Realm ; One measure of Ale, and one measure of Corn, viz., the Quarter of London. And one breadth of dyed Cloth, Russets, and Haberjects ; viz. two yards within the Lists, and it shall be of Weights as it is of Measures. 9 H. III., c. 25. 14 Edw. III., c. 12. 27 Edw. III., c. 10. 8 Hy. VI., c. 5. 11 Hy. VII., c. 4. 17 Chas. I., c. 19. F 2 CL9 ( 68 ) CLO to the weavers that had a guild or fraternity in London, wherein it appeared that the said weavers made woollen cloth, and that they had the correction thereof ; but amongst other articles in that patent, it was decreed that if any man made cloth of Spanish wool, mixed with English, the portgrave, or principal magistrate of London, ought to burn it." For these privileges the weavers paid annnually at Michael- mas two marks of gold to the king. A 12th-century historian says of the English in his time that they were " a people most versed in woollen manufactures and merchandise." In 1112 particulars are given of a number of Flemings — " a brave hardy people, equally qualified to handle the- plough and the sword, and they were also skilful in the woollen manufactures, the great staple of their country " — being driven here by successive inundations of their land, and coming here in such numbers as to be a burthen to us. They were first sent to settle on waste lands in the north, particularly about Carlisle, where they may perhaps have found kindred, as it is said that a similar immigration of Flemings took place in the time of the Conqueror, who likewise stationed them on the northern frontiers, chiefly near Carlisle. Pro- bably, in accordance with the actuating motive of this course, Henry afterwards moved the aliens to Ross on the borders of the Principality, to be a bulwark against the inroads of the turbulent Welsh. This king first granted in 1133 a charter to the Priory of St. Bartholomew to hold an annual fair, which was confirmed by his successor. This fair came to be a great cloth market, and the place in which it was held is still known as Cloth Fair. In the reign of Henry II. companies of weavers in Oxfordshire, Nottinghamshire, Huntingdonshire, Lincoln- shire, Yorkshire, and Winchester are recorded to have paid fines to the King for certain exclusive privileges. Drapers, first mentioned in the preceding reign as flourishing in provincial towns, also paid fines to the king to buy and sell dyed cloth. John likewise received such taxes. These facts are conclusive as to the revival of the cloth industry during the 12th and 13th centuries. We find also in the reign of John mention of ' ' Irish cloth white and red, " when it would hardly be likely that the sister kingdom would have an exclusive monopoly of the manufacture. But at this period no fine fabrics were woven here. Fuller, in his Church History of Great Britain, 1656, speaking of the time immediately following the accession of Edward III., says : " The King and State began now to grow sensible of the great gain the Netherlands got by our English wool, in memory whereof the Duke of Burgundy not long after instituted the order of the Golden Fleece, where inched the Fleece was ours, the Golden theirs, so vast their emolument by tin; trade of clothing. Our king, therefore, resolved, if possible, to reduce the trade to bis own country, who as yet were ignoranl of thai art, as knowing no more what to do with their word than the sleep that weare it. As to any artificial! and curious drapery, their best cloathee then being no better than freezes, Mich their coarseness for • of ski]] in the making. Bnl booh after followed a great alteration." This alteration was the result of Edward's endeavours to inveigle the weaver! of Flanders over here, which Fuller may again relate : " The intercourse now beir betwizi the English and the Netherlands (increased of late rinee King Edward married the daughter <>f the Earl of nilt i, unsuspected emissariei were employed by our king Into those conn- , who wrought themselves Into familiarity with snob Dutchmen as were • their trade hut not inaBteru of themselves, as either jour- CLO ( 69 ) CLO neymen or apprentices. These bemoaned the slavishness of these poore ser- vants, whom their masters used rather like heathens than Christians, yea, rather like horses than men. Early up and late in bed, and all day hard worke and harder fare (a few herrings and mouldy cheese) and all to enrich the churls their masters. " But, 0, how happy should they be if they would but come over into England, bringing their mystery with them, which would provide their welcome in all places. Here they should feed on fat beef and mutton, till nothing but their fulnesse should shut their stomachs. Yea, they should feed on the labours of their own hands, enjoying a proportionable profit of their pains to themselves. . . . Persuaded with the promises, many Dutch servants leave their masters and make over for England. Their departure thence (being pickt here and there) made no sensible vacuity, but their meeting here altogether amounted to a con- siderable fulnesse. With themselves they brought over themselves and their tools, namely, such which could not as yet be so conveniently made in England." Queen Philippa is said to have been the chief promoter of these immigration schemes, and she is believed to have established the Flemish weavers at Norwich. A protection granted in 1331 to John Kemp, of Flanders, a woollen cloth weaver, is the first recorded arrival, and he was authorized, as the King's aegis expresses it, "to teach his art to such of our people as shall incline to learn it ; the King hereby taking the said Kemp, with all his servants, apprentices, goods, and chattels, into his Royal protection ; and promising the same likewise to all others of his occupation, as also to all dyers and fullers, who shall incline to come and settle in England." Kemp settled at Kendal, and established there a manufacture, which afterwards became well and dis- tinctively known. Similar documents exist according, some years later, the king's permission to two weavers to settle at York, and to fifteen workers in wool and cloth, with their families, coming from Zealand. In all some seventy families came over in 1331. They were first sent to live with different yeomen, but were afterwards established in various towns, taking with them their trades ; so that manufactures of fustians were settled at Norwich, baizes at Sudbury, broad cloths in Kent, kerseys in Devon, friezes in Wales, cloths in Worcestershire, Glouces- tershire, Hampshire, Sussex, and Berkshire, coarse cloths in the West Riding of Yorkshire, and serges at Colchester and Taunton. Many of these manufactures became permanent in these places. At the com- mencement of his reign (1328) Edward had passed a law ensuring the excellence of imported cloths by having them examined at the port of landing (See Assize). In 1337, while his army was preparing to invade Flanders, a blow was directed against the enemy's trade by the passing of an Act which directed (c.l) That no English wool should be exported till otherwise ordained ; (c. 2) That all cloth-workers should be received from any foreign parts, and fit places assigned them, with divers privi- leges. Another Act provided that none should wear any cloth for the future but such as was made in England, except the King, Queen, and their children, and that no foreign cloth was to be imported on pain of forfeiture, and other punishment.* Within the next decade we find the trade sufficiently advanced to commence export, for in 1347 the Com- * Xo clothes made beyond sea'to be brought into England, Ireland, Wales, and Scotland upon forfeiture of the said clothes, and further to be punished at the King's will. 11 Edw. III., c. 3. 4 Edw. IV., c. 1. CLO ( 70 ) CLO mons petition " the King and Lords that the new custom lately set, viz., upon every cloth carried forth by English merchants, fourteen pence, and by strangers, twenty-one pence, and upon every worsted cloth one penny, and of strangers one penny half-penny, and upon every lit (dyed cloth) ten pence, and of strangers, fifteen pence may be taken away." The account of exports for the year 1354 has been preserved, which comprises, with other goods, 4,774| pieces of cloth at 40s. each, and 8,061^ pieces of worsted stuff at 16s. Sd. each. About this time the ranks of craftsmen had received another accession from Flanders, through tumults occasioned by their native merchants, under a pretence of maintaining excellence, laying imposts and re- strictions upon finished goods ; so that after several outbreaks at Ghent, Bruges, and Ypres, there occurred a riot at Lou vain, when "several magistrates were slain in the Council House, and many of the offenders fled to England, whither they carried the art of drapery." A sumptuary law of 1363 (found so ineffectual that it was re-enacted three times between this period and the reign of Henry VIII.) divides cloths into classes, and apportions them to various conditions of men, and directed in its final clause that Clothiers shall make suitable quantities of cloth of all the before-named prices, and mercers and shopkeepers in towns and cities shall keep the due sortments thereof, so that these laws may be duly observed. The cloth worn by men-servants of lords, as also of tradesmen and artisans, was not allowed to exceed the price of two marks the whole piece, that worn by artisans and yeomen, not exceeding the value of forty shillings the whole piece ; gentlemen under the degree of knights, and merchants, citizens, burghers, and artificers, or tradesmen having goods of the clear value of £500, were allowed cloth not above four and a half marks the whole piece ; esquires, and mer- chants, citizens, and burgesses worth above £1,000, might wear cloth of five marks the piece ; knights of two hundred marks, and those having over four hundred marks yearly might respectively wear cloth of six marks, and what they pleased. At this time the drapers of London were gathered in Candlewick (Cannon) Street, as we learn from the poem of London Lackpenny, written by John Lydgate, a monk of Bury St. Edmund's, about 1375 : " Then full I went by London stone, Throughout all Camdyke Street, Drapers much cloth offered rue anon." The last Act passed in this reign provided (1376) that no subsidy be paid M on our own woollen manufactures till they be fulled, which was to be performed before they should be exported," the first of many efforts to foster the manufacture by making it compulsory that the finishing processes should be performed at home.* Here ends endea- * 1390. No Guildford cloths should be sold before they were fulled and dressed. Woollen Clothes shall not be transported until tliev be fulled, nor cus- tom paid before fulled. 60 Edw. III., c. 7. 7 Bdir. IV., c. S. 3 Hy. VII., c. 11. Nor before it be Barb'd, Kow'd, and Shorn upon forfeit of the same; the informer hall White Clothes at fi 1 and under, and Coloured Clothes at £3 and imd( r may be transported, and all above the said rates to be forfeited if unbarb'd, unrow'd, and unshorn ; if shipt with intent to earrv beyond the seas to be forfeited. 3 Ilv. Vil., c. 11. 27 Hy. VIII., c. 13. 88 Hy. VIIL, c. 19. 8 Eliz., e. I). CLO ( 71 ) CLO vours made to promote the mercantile welfare of England by the monarch to whom English trade is undubitably most indebted, and who, judged by the standard of his day, was no more king than man of busi- ness, but in both was excellent. The textile manufactures were now firmly established. Subsequent laws are mainly directed to the maintenance of excellence ; retaliatory restrictions of trade when at war with Continental countries, or arbitrary regulation of business at home ; and endeavours to check the growing influence of " merchant strangers." Statutes at several periods show that perverted ingenuity is not a modern innovation. In 1464 an Act (4 Edw. IV., c. 1) was passed set- ting forth ' ' That whereas the workmanship of cloths and other woollen goods was become to be of such fraud and deceit, as to be had in small reputation in other countries to the great shame of this land ; and that, by reason thereof, great quantities of foreign cloths are imported here and sold here at high and excessive prices : — for remedy thereof, it was now enacted that broad cloth, fully watered, should be twenty-four yards and one inch in length, and two yards, or at least seven quarters in breadth, and that no cloth of any region but Wales or Ireland shall be imported^ except cloth taken at sea. " The different processes of bard- ing, spinning, weaving, shearing, fulling, burling, and dyeing, were also regulated, and the measuring and sealing of the cloth by the aulnegar made more effective. The mixing of lamb's wool and flocks with marketable wool was also sternly prohibited. From a sumptuary law of this date we gather the price of ordinary cloth : "No servant of husbandry, or common labourer, or servant of an artificer, inhabitant of any city or borough, shall wear any cloth exceeding the price of two shillings the broad yard." On the other hand, the Wardrobe Accounts of this monarch give us particulars of the prices of finer qualities : scarlet cloth, at from 7s. to 10s. the yard ; violet ingrain, from lis. to 13s. 4d. the yard ; ' ' Cloth of Mustrevalers " from 3s. 8d. to 5s. the yard ; " Franche blac cloth " from 5s. 8d. to 13s. 4d. the yard ; and cloths of russet, 4s. ; of murrey and blew, 2s. 8d. to 3s. 4d. ; and of grean at 6s. 8d. the yard respectively. In 1483 another Act was passed against "various fraudulent and tricking methods of making woollen cloths," to obviate which the em- ployment of flocks and chalk was forbidden, provisions made for regu- lating the various processes of manufacture : especially that of stretching, for which purpose " Tenters shall not be kept within doors, but alone in open places." This Act is valuable by reason of its setting forth the descriptions of cloths and their size at this period : " Broad cloths, shall be in length twenty-four yards (and to every yard an inch) ; breadth eight quarters between the lists. Half-clothe, twelve yards long, and not to exceed sixteen yards; same width. Streits, twelve yards long, breadth one yard within the lists. Kerseys, eighteen yards long, and one yard and a nail between the lists." A fresh Act became necessary in 1515. This directed the weights of cloths to be ascertained, " Havre de pois " being the standard employed; and they were to contain no flocks or other deceit, and when offered for sale were not to be shrinkable above one yard in the piece, buyers being warned not to shrink the cloth. About sixteen years later another Act CLO ( 72 ) CLO ■was found necessary to ensure the wool being properly cleansed before sale, the practice of winding with clay stones or other weight-making things being denounced, as it was subsequently, about 1597, when flocks, sollace, flour, chalk, and other deceitful things are mentioned as ingre- dients injurious to cloths, the use of which made them "rewey, pursey, squally, cockling, light, and notably faulty." This we may well believe, especially when we find the Scots at that date prohibiting the impor- tation of English cloth into their country, "the same cloth having only for the most part an outward shew, wanting that substance and strength which oftentimes it appears to have." In the meanwhile an Act had been passed during the brief reign of Edward VI. for prevent- ing of frauds in the woollen manufacture of England,* wherein it is averred that clothiers, "some for lacke of knowledge and expe- rience, and some of extreame covetousnes, do day lie more and more studdye rather to make monye then to make good clothes, having more respecte to their private commoditie then the advance- ment of truthe and continuance of the commoditie in estymacion accordinge to the worthynes thereof, have and doe daylie instead of truthe practyse felsehode, and instead of substanciall makinge of clothe doe practyse sleight and slender makinge, some by myngelinge of yernes of diverse spynnynges in one clothe, some by myngelinge Fell Wool and Lambes Wooll or either of them with Fleese Wool, some by puttinge to littel stuffe, some by takinge them out of the Mill before they be full thicked, some by overstretching e them upon the tenter, and then stoppinge with flockes such brackes as shal be made by means thereof, fynallye by usinge so manye subtill sleights and untruithes as when the clothes soe made be put in the water to trye them, they ryse out of the same neither in lengthe nor bredeth as they ought to doe and in some place narrower than some, beside such cockelinge, bandinge, and divers other great and notable faults as cannot be thought to be true." This comprehensive Act contains thirtj 7 clauses, all relating to cloths, but with Anderson we must needs remark, "such as desire to peruse them may consult the statute books." There they will find several other laws, even as late as the time of George III., reciting similar complaints, and threatening similar pains and penalties, by which we conclude that all of them, after a brief period of enforced rectitude, were quietly disregarded until flagrant faults again became too glaring to be overlooked. We need hardly note the use of cloth in politics ; how, valiantly cut- ting off our nose to spite our face, we have at times forbidden a neigh- bour's cloth being imported because the neighbour refused to admit our own. Some references to such principles have already been made. Other protective measures saddled merchant-strangers with additional dutiesand restrictions — because they were strangers. A few instances must suffice : * This Act appears t<> give a very complete view of the manufacture of the Seriod. The following counties having woollen industries arc mentioned: Suffolk] Norfolk, Essex, Wiltshire, Qloucestershire, Somerset - uliin . i ire, Cardigan, Oamarden, Pembroke, and Cheshire; and these particular towns, Rowling, Coxsall, LiLmiest'onl, Taunton, Brid^wuter, Tavis- tock, Pennystoncs, and Mum-heater. CLO ( 73 ) CLO " No merchant-alien shall sell any merchandize in England to another mer- chant-alien, upon pain of forfeiture thereof. The mayor, bailiff, and other chief officer of the city, borough, or town, whither any merchant-alien shall repair, shall assign to every such alien an host or surveyor, who shall survey all his buyings and sellings, and register them in a book, and certify them into the Exchequer, and shall have twopence in the pound for all merchandize by him bought or sold." 18 Henry VI., c. 4. " That whereas merchant strangers of the nation of Italy .... do take to them people of other nations and be with them daily, and do buy and sell, and make secret bargains with them. And do buy, in divers places of this realm, great quantities of wool, woollen cloth, and other merchandize of the King's subjects, part of which they sell again here, &c Wherefore it is now enacted, I. That all Italian merchants, who are not denizens shall only sell their merchandize in gross and not by retail to the King's subjects, within eight months after their importation (cloths of gold and silk excepted), and in the ports they arrive at ; and within the same time shall lay out the money in English commodities, and in nowise to make over such money by exchange. But if they cannot sell all their wares within the said term of eight months, then what shall remain unsold shall be carried beyond sea again within two months more III. Neither shall they sell or barter any wool, woollen cloth, or other English merchandize in the realm which they shall have first bought here, but shall carry the same beyond sea through the Streights of Morocco." Another Act of the fifth year of Henry IV. decreed that Merchant Strangers shall put in sureties to employ their moneys upon the Com- modities of the -Realm (saving their reasonable costs) within a quarter of a year, upon forfeit of the said money. One alien shall sell no mer- chandise to another alien upon forfeiture of the said merchandise. The first of these two clauses was repealed in the following year, but the stipulations were again renewed in the reign of Henry V. The reitera- tion of all these restrictive laws would perhaps prove tedious, and a weariness of the flesh to the most patient reader. Some forbade the carriage of gold and silver out of the realm, others provided that English ships should be employed when possible, compelled aliens to pay ready money or other merchandise in hand, or obliged them to sell by t' the cotton plant in a I in tl.c- tombs of K^v]>t, which is an indication thai cotton was not only purchased as an article of import, bui \\m> cultivated in Egypt. Wilkinson says that cotton cloth was manufactured in Egypt and thai ootton dresses were worn by all classes. Pliny say i thai the Egyptian priests, though they used linen, particularly partial to cotton robes; and on the Rosette stone, there la ,ii made of ootton garments supplied by the G-overnmenl for the as of the temple." Nafto: Manufacturing Artt in Ancient rums. COT ( 81 COT Arabia.* Pliny says : "In Upper Egypt, towards Arabia, there grows a shrub, which some call gossyphcm, and others xylon, from which the stuffs are made which we call xylina. It is small, and bears a fruit resembling the filbert, within which is a downy wool, which is spun into thread. There is nothing to be preferred to these stuffs for whiteness and sof 6- ness ; beautiful garments are made from them for the priests of Egypt ; ' and further, in his description of the island of Tylos, in the Persian Gulf, enumerates among its remarkable productions " wool-bearing trees, with leaves exactly like those of the vine, but smaller, bearing a fruit like a gourd, and of the size of a quince, which, bursting when it is ripe, displays a ball of downy wool, from which are made costly garments resembling linen." This author was overtaken by an eruption of Vesuvius, a.d. 79. The Moors are generally stated to have first cultivated the plant in Europe, on the plains of Valencia, during the 9th or 10th century. Cotton stuffs were shortly afterwards produced in various Spanish towns, and the manufacture flourished there until the expulsion of its Moorish founders. Fustian was first wrought there, and, with dimities, subsequently at Venice and Milan, where the industry took root about the 14th century. It is thought that these must yet have been of linen warp, as it would hardly have been possible at that period to have produced wefts sufficiently strong to bear the tension in weaving. This period again is supposed to mark the intro- duction of cotton yarn from Syria and Asia Minor, whence until com- paratively recent times we derived our supply. "The interesting narrative of Marco Polo, the Venetian traveller, who visited nearly all the countries of Asia at the latter part of the 13th century, and who observed the dress of different nations with mercantile minuteness, enables us to trace pretty accurately the extent to which the manufacture had spread in that part of the globe. It appears that at that period there was a manufacture of very fine cotton cloth at Arzingan, in Armenia Major; that cotton was abundantly grown and manufactured in Persia, and all the provinces bordering on the Indus ; that in all parts of India this was the staple manufacture, and that it flourished particularly in Guzerat, Cambay, Bengal, Masuli- patam, and Malabar. Polo also mentions that at Kue-lin-fu (Kienning- fo, in the province of Fokien), in China, 'cottons were woven of coloured threads, which were carried for sale to every part of the pro- vince of Manji.' But in no other place does he mention cotton as being grown or made into cloth in China, whilst he continually speaks of the inhabitants as being clothed in silks." Baines. Mention of cotton in England occurs about this time. In a Ward- robe Account, dated 1212, twelve pence is entered as the price of a pound of cotton required for stuffing an aketon belonging to King John, and cotton wool is described shortly afterwards as being used for candle-wicks. Such necessities had probably before that time been supplied in the manner related by Evelyn : "Oaks bear also a knur full of a cottony matter, of which they anciently made wick for their lamps * The Periplus of the Erythrean Sea, a very ancient book of travels, which is attributed to the reign of Nero, speaks of imports into Rome through Aduli, a seaport of the Red Sea, of "Indian cottons ; coverlids and sashes made of cotton ; cotton-cloth dyed the colour of the mallow-flower, and a few muslins." Stxvknson. COT ( 82 ) COT or candles " (Sylva, 1664). By 1430 cotton was imported here in con- siderable quantities, and in the following century Louis Guicciardini, in his Description of the Netherlands, instances a large trade in cotton between that country and the Levant, Ancona, Venice, and Naples . In 1503, 6d. a yard was paid " to Cristofre Ascue for v yerdes of cotton russet for the Quene's choare " [Privy Purse Expenses of Elizabeth of York) ; and in 1530, " 6s. 4d. to Richard Amsham for vij yardes di (half) of coton," with another entry in the same year of 2s. "to Richard Cicytt for iiij yardes of coton bought at Wodstock." But it is not safe to assume that these were materials of cotton, as will be hereafter seen. Stuffs under this name, both of cotton and wool, are probably seen in these entries from the Household Books of Lord William Howard, 1612-40. " 8 yards of cotten for my Ladie's peticote, 8d. 9 yardes of cotton for lynings, 5s. 6d." What caused this considerable difference in price there is nothing to determine, but as calico in the same accounts appears at from 4d. to 8d. the yard, there is probably an error in the first entry. It is at this period that we first find mention of the import of the raw material for manufacture, although in the Hackluyt Voyages mention occurs of its import in the 16th century. In a scarce tract " by Lewis Roberts, Merchant and Captaine of the City of London," entitled the Merchants' Map of Commerce, 1638, the Turkey Company is said to bring cottons and cotton yarn from Cyprus and Smyrna. Manchester was even thus early the seat of the trade. Another scarce tract by the same author, The Treasure of Traffike, 1641, says : " The towne of Manchester in Lancashire, must be also herein remembered, and worthily for their encouragement commended, who buy the yarne of the Irish in great quantity, and weaving it returne the same againe in Linen into Ireland to sell ; neither doth the industry rest here, for they buy Cotten wooll in London that comes first from Cyprus and Smyrna, and at home worke the same, and perfit it into Fustians, Vermillions, Dymities, and other such Stuffes, and then returne it to London, where the same is vented and sold, and not seldome sent into forraigne parts, who have meanes at far easier termes, to provide themselves of the said first materials." Again, Fuller, in 1662, says of the people of Manchester that — 11 Buying the cotton wool or yarn coming from beyond the sea, tbey make it here into fustians, to the good employment of the poor, and great improvement of the rich therein, serving mean people for their outsides and their betters for the lining of their garments. Bolton is the staple place for this commo- dity, being brought thither from all parts of the country. As for Manchester, the cottons thereof carry away the credit of our nation, and so they did a hundred and fifty years agoe. For when learned Leland, on the cost of King Henry the eighthe, with his guide, travailed Lancashire he called Manchester the fairest and quickest town in this country ; and sure I am it hath lost neither spruceness nor spirits since that time. Other commodities made in Manchester are so small in themselves and various in their kinds, the; will fill the shop of a haberdasher of small wares. Being, therefore, too many for BBC to reckon up or remember, it will bo the safest way to wrap them all toge- ther in some Manchester ticken, and to fasten them with the pi nns (to prevent tin ir foiling out and scattering) or tyo them with the tape ,' and also because Hxuc l/moints and laces all made in the same place." COT ( 83 ) COT 1788 389 bags 1789 842 „ 1790 81 „ Our cotton supply continued to be brought entirely from Asia Minor and the East Indies until after the conclusion of the War of Independence. From 1771 to 1775 the average annual import of raw cotton into this country was under five millions of pounds, of which none came from America. The export of American cotton to Europe from 1785 to 1790 was : 1785 14 bags 1786 6 „ 1787 109 „ In 1786 we obtained cotton as under : From the British West Indies 5,800,000 lbs. „ French and Spanish Colonies 5,500,000 „ Dutch Colonies 1,600,000 „ Portuguese Colonies 2,000,000 From Smyrna and Turkey 5,000,000 ; in all under twenty millions of pounds. The Custom House returns of the total quantity of cotton wool imported into Britain during the five years ending with 1705 show a yearly average only of 1,170,881 lbs. The cottons of the West Indies, as the above returns show, were held in much esteem, and in 1743 Jamaica was reported to yield the best cotton in the world. The variety now so well known as Sea Island shortly afterwards rendered the Bahamas famous. From here some Georgian planters, who had sought shelter during the war with the mother country, took with them Sea Island seed as soon as they could safely return. Another account states that some Virginians were induced to embark in the cultivation of the cotton plant by the depressed state of the tobacco trade, consequent upon a restrictive Act of Parliament. Yet again it is said that it was first cultivated in America by a planter named Spalding, to whom it was sent by a friend from the island of Anguilla. In 1784 the late William Rathbone, an extensive American merchant in Liverpool, received from one of his correspondents in the Southern States a consignment of eight bags of cotton. This cotton, on its arrival at Liverpool, was seized by the Custom House officers, on the allegation that it could not have been grown in the United States, and that it was liable to seizure under the Shipping Act, as not being im- ported in a vessel belonging to the country of its growth. When after- wards released, it lay for many months unsold, in consequence of the spinners doubting whether it could be profitably worked up. The rapid increase of the exports from America is best shown by the following figures : 1791 189,316 lbs. 1794 1,601,760 1795 5,276,300 1798 9,360,005 1800 17,789,803 1805 40,383,491 1810 93,874,201 lbs. 1820 127,860,152 1825 176,439,907 1830 298,459,102 1841 530,204,100 Nearly the whole of this would come into this country. The present magnitude of our trade in cotton is periodically made public, and need not here be shown. Our supply is now derived from every quarter of the globe, the prin- cipal sources, in their order of production, being North America, India, South America, and Egypt. These may be subdivided as follows : G 2 COT ( S4 ) COT North- American and United States Cotton, produced in the States of Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, known in the market as Orleans, Mobile, and Uplands. This latter, produced in Georgia — the other two descriptions being named from the ports of supply — excels among the short-stapled varieties, the famous "Sea Island " cotton being produced on the row of islands fringing the same state. Sea Island has been successfully cultivated in Fiji, Tahiti, Egypt, Queensland, Australia, and the Polynesian Islands. Indian Cotton is mainly divided under two titles, Surat and Madras. Other varieties quoted in the market are Bengal, Scinde, and Rangoon. Some small quantities are also produced in Siam and Manilla. Swat includes Hingenhaut, Ginned Dharwar, Broach, Broach Machmed, Ginned Dhollera, and Oomrawuttee, the first two of which bear a com- paratively high value ; but on the whole Indian cotton is far inferior to American, being of very short staple and ill adapted to our machinery'. Efforts have been made to improve its quality by using American seed with some success. Madras includes Tinnivelly, Western, Coconada, and Salem. " East Indian cotton comes in little bales, very strongly compressed and corded, which are carried on the backs of camels, or on waggons, to the Ganges, and there received into boats with capacious interiors ; these descend the river and take the cargo to European ships." (Natural History oj Commerce.) South- American Cotton is principally produced in Brazil, from whence come the varieties known in the market as Pernambuco, Maranham, and Maceio. Brazilian cotton proper is long-stapled, but a good deal of short staple has been at times cultivated in this and adjacent coun- tries. Peru grows a quantity of " Creole" cotton, known as Payta, from its shipping port. Cotton is more or less cultivated in all the West India Islands, as well as in Columbia, Venezuela, New Granada, and Guayana. Egyptian Cotton is a coarse variety of Sea Island, introduced into that country by Mehemet Ali in 1821. It was so successful that two years after nearly 6,000 bales were exported. Cotton is also grown to a limited extent in Italy, Malta, and Cyprus ; more considerably in Syria and Persia. Africa is pointed out on all hands as containing greater facilities and undeveloped resources for the production of cotton than any other part of the earth. The plant is found growing wild on the borders of the Senegal, Gambia, and Niger rivers ; in Abyssinia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Timbuctoo, and generally throughout the interior. That already brought from the French island of Bourbon is well known, as well as a fine quality raised from imported seed in Algeria. Engli*h settlers in Natal and elsewhere on the continent have also successfully produced good cotton. Anxiety has frequently been felt at our staple trade being fully dependent on one source of supply — anxiety which WM shown to be warranted by the cotton famine, which in 1862 left; our markets with little over 70,000 bales, and raised the price of the ordinary raw material from 6\d. to 2s. 3od. per lb. The interests of America and England in this matter are of course identical, but the}' might rot always remain so, even if causes beyond human control did not again check produce. In this matter the Cotton Supply COT ( 85 ) COT Associaton has done, and is still doing, good work, in seeking new contributory countries, and in stimulating production in others of small producing power. The value of cotton depends on the strength, fineness, length, and colour of the staple. Pure white is not indicative of good quality, but rather a pale yellow, if this is due to natural causes, and not the result of damp or an unfavourable season. Duties of different degree have from time to time been laid upon cotton, but its progressive improvement of manufacture has been so rapid that such shackles have had no effect in retarding its onward course. The first impost was laid on by the 12th of Charles II., which charged 4d. per lb. on cotton wool not of the growth of the English Plantation, but allowed cotton from our colonies free admittance. Atthe same time we find cotton yarn of India described as an import. The distinction between English-grown and other cotton was maintained far into the present century. It is perhaps needless to add that the balance was always in favour of ourselves. Another difference was at times made in favour of cotton imported by the East India Company. In 1780 (20 Geo. III.) the importation of cotton in foreign ships was allowed on payment of a duty of l|d. per lb., with an addition of five per ceDt., the produce to be devoted to "the en- couragement of the growth of cotton in his Majesty's Leeward Islands, and for encouraging the importation thereof into Great Britain. " Particulars of the development of the early cotton manufacture have already been traced through calico. Others will in course be given when treating of the introduction of various machines which have marked eras in its progress. " The poorer sort do line their clothes with cotto-cloth, which is made of the finest wool they can pick out, and of the coarser part of the said wool they make felt to cover their houses and their chests, and for bedding also." Hackluyt : Voyages {The Tartars), 1589. " William Cotton (of another family) was made Bishop of Exeter ; the Queen merily saying (alluding to the plenty of clothing in those parts) that she hoped she had well cottoned the west." Fuller : Worthies (Hantshire), 1662. " There are two sorts of cotton trees (on the river St. Jago) ; one is called the red, the other the white cotton tree ; the white cotton tree grows like an oak, but generally much bigger and taller than our oaks. The red cotton tree is like the other, but hardly so big." Dampier: Voyage, An. 1684. " And every sultry clime (yields) the snowy down Of cotton bursting from its stubborn shell, To gleam amid the verdure of the grove." Dyer: TJie Fleece. " So feyneth he, things true and false, so always mingleth he, That first with midst, and midst with laste maye cotton* and agree." Horace : The Art of Poetry. COTTON MANUFACTURE. To the remote antiquity of this allusion has already been made in the preceding article. We shall treat here of the production of cotton fabrics in England. The mention of so-called cottons occurs long before any consider- able import of cotton yarn can be traced. Thus Leland, writing in 1552, says, " Bolton-upon-Moore market, stondeth most by cottons and coarse yarne. Divers villages in the Moors about Bolton doe make * Slang expression still in use. COT ( 86 ) COT cottons. " But it is now fully established that these stuffs were wholly made of wool and they either derived their name from imitating some imported Indian cotton stuffs, or from a corruption of coatings. In proof that they were of wool an Act of 1551-2 (5 and 6 Edward VI. ), having for its avowed purpose "the makinge of Wollen Clothe," contains the two following passages. " And that all and everie Walshe Cottonne, and Cottonnes which after the saide feast (that of ' Sahicte Michaell tharchangell next comynge ') shalbe made and so wroughte redye to be soulde for a hole pece, shall not be stretched on the Tentor nor otherwise above a nayle of a yarde in bredith, and shalbe in length thirty-two in the water at the most, and in bredith thre quarters of a yarde at the water at the lest, and beinge soe fullye wrought everie hole pece thereof shall waye fortye-sixe pounde at the lest, and everie halfe pece of "Walshe Cottonne being full wrought as ys aforesaide shall conteyne in lengthe, weight, and bredith after the same rate. "And that all and everie Cottonnes called Manchester, Lancashire, and Cheshire Cottonnes which shalbe made after the saide feast full wrought to the sale, shalbe in lengthe twentie-two and conteyne in bredith thre quarters of a yard in the water, and shall waye thirtye pounde the pece at the lest." Again, Camden, speaking of Manchester in 1590, says, "This town excels the towns immediately around it, in handsomeness, populousness, woollen manufactures, market-place, church, and college, but did more excel them in the last age, as well by the glory of its woollen cloths, which they call Manchester cottons, as by the privilege of sanctuary, which the authority of Parliament, under Henry the Eighth, transferred to Chester." Further, a tract published in 1601, entitled The Merchants' Treatise of Commerce, says, " The Company of Merchant Adventurers did in these times annually export sixty thousand white cloths, besides coloured ones of all sorts, short and long ; kersies, bayes, cottons, northern dozens, and divers other kinds of coarse woollen cloths." The earliest record, either of raw cotton being imported or made up here is generally ascribed to its mention in the Treasure of Traffike already quoted, but an extract from another production of the same author, published three years before, has also been given. Charles I.'s. charter granted to the City in 1640 includes in the " Scavage Table of Kates Inwards " Cotton Wool, paying 3s. the cwt., and Cotton Yarn, pay- ing 4s. for a like quantity. These three quotations all applying directly and without doubt to imported and made-up cotton, are alike expressive of an established industry at this time, but careful ami constant search for evidence as to the exact date of its introduction has entirely failed. Mr. Baines is of opinion that the Flemings, who came here after the sack of Antwerp, in 1585, brought the art with them : "Great numbers of these victims of a sanguinary persecution took refuge in England, and some of them settled in Manchester ; and there is the stronger reason to suppose that the manufacture of cotton would then be commenced here, as there were restrictions and burdens on foreigners setting up business as masters in England, in the trades then carried on in this country,* whilst foreigners commencing a nnn art would be exempt from these restrictions. The Warden and Fellows * Imposed by an Act of Elizabeth. COT ( 87 ) COTJ of Manchester College had the wisdom to encourage the settlement of the foreign clothiers in that town, by allowing them to cut firing from their extensive woods, as well as to take the timber necessary for the construction of their looms, on paying the small sum of fourpence yearly. At that period of our history, when capital was small, and the move- ments of trade comparatively sluggish, a new manufacture would be likely to extend itself slowly, and to be long before it attracted the notice of authors. That a manufacture might in those days gradually take root and acquire streDgth, without even for half a century being commemorated in any book that should be extant after the lapse of two centuries more, will be easily credited by those who have searched for the records of our modern improvements in the same manufacture. If the greatest mechanical inventions, and the most stupendous commer- cial phenomena have passed almost unnoticed in a day when authors were so numerous, the mere infancy of the cotton manufacture may well have been without record in an age when the Press was far less active." This view, alone of great weight from its author's exhaustive research into the manufacture of cotton, is supported by the fact that we find in the preceding century an account of the Netherlands importing cotton yarn and exporting cottons ; and Antwerp at the time of its destruction was the mart of the world, and the channel of communication between England and the East. COTTUM, Cat-wool or Dog- wool, of which were made cottas, or a sort of blanket. Bailey. In Chaucer's Sumpnoures Tale is an importunate begging friar, who craves " A dagon of your blanket, leve dame." Dagon was the diminutive of daggesweyne, the name for a bed covering or cloak. COUNTER. A counting -board in a shop. " Counter-caster" is used by Shakespeare as a term of contempt for a shopkeeper. COUNTERPANE. A corruption of counterpoint, the old name derived from the French courtepointe or point contre-pointe, stitch against stitch, denoting something sewn on both sides alike. This method was used when bed coverings were stuffed with some warm material and were sewn through and through to keep the wadding in place. The word is further derived from coulte-pointe, a corruption of the Latin culcita puncta, bestitched. Our Saxon ancestors were not so nice in their night garments as we are. As a matter of fact, they lay during the night destitute of clothing, and we find denounced the practice of ser- vants throwing their chemises at candles to put them out. The bed for the common people was a crib or trough filled with straw, and over this was placed a skin or cloak, which is said to have been called a cover-lid, whence we are supposed by some to derive our coverlet. It is conjectured also that counterpoint became counterpane, by reason of the diagonally-crossing lines, resembling the panes of church windows, as Chaucer describes the young priest Absolon as having " Paules windows carven on his shoes." Shoes patterned in diaper were common at this period. Early painted or embroidered coverlets were termed chalons :* • From their having heen originally brought from Chalons, a town in France with flourishing manufactures. The trade of making these bed-coverings brought about the current surname of Chaloner. COU ( 8S ) COV " And in his owen chambre hem made a bedde* With shetes and with chalons faire y-spredde." Chaucer : Heve's Tate. In 1348 there were at Holy Island "ij chalones boni," and fifty years later William Asham bequeathed in his will " a chalon." There is evi- dence too of the Saxon and Norman ladies at an earlier period using their needles in the decoration of bed-covers. Quilt, coverlet, counter- point, and counterpane have together been used to describe the same article. Counterpoint, too, has also been applied to a military doublet or coat worn under the cuirass to keep the steel from hurting the body. It was usually made of wool or cotton quilted between two stuffs, and was in reality a body- counterpane. In 1454 an Act of Parliament related that York city had been formerly supported by sundry handi- crafts, and most principally by making of coverlets and coverings for beds, whereby great numbers of inhabitants and poor people in that city and suburbs, and in other places of the county, have been constantly employed. But that of late years sundry evil-dispo3ed persons, appren- tices, not expert in that occupation, had withdrawn themselves out of that city into the county ; and divers other persons inhabiting the vil- lages and towns of that county and nigh to the said city, have inter- meddled with the said craft, and do daily make coverlets, neither of good stuff or proper size ; and do hawk and sell them abroad in the county, to villages and men's houses, &c, to the great deceit of the King's subjects, &c, therefore it was enacted, that no person what- ever, within or nigh to the county of York, shall make any coverlets for sale, but inhabitants alone dwelling within the city of York and its suburbs. In 1464 Lady Bergavenny in her will bequeaths, " My bed of silk, black and red, embroidered with woodbined flowers of silver, and all the costers and apparel that belongeth thereto, twelve pair of sheets of the best cloth I have, save Keynes (Rennes), six pair of blankets, and a pane of minever." In 1542, in an inventory of "all and singular goodys movable and unmovable of Izabel Lynschall laytly departtyd, praysed to the value by indifferent men." One coverlett is " praysed " at 5s. In 1557 an inventory attached to the will of Wil- liam Knyvett, of Thorntonbrigs, contains "one joned bedsted, one fether bed, one mattress, ij bolsters, ij pyllowes, one pair of blanketts, and one counterpoint, "and in the following year Mistress An Duckett, of Kendall, leaves "a coveryng of a bed of crulls (crewels)." Johan Wiclif, in 1562, bequeaths "one coverlytt of lyste lyned with furr," valued at 8d., and in 1567 Dr. George Nevill left " vij coverlates,"only worth twenty shillings the lot. The inventory of Skipton Castle, Yorkshire, taken in 1572, contains in " Le Strang chamber" (the strangers' or guest chamber) "a counterpoynt, 53s. 4d.," and in the servants' rooms " 4 coverlids ;" and the Wardrobe Accounts of James I., on the occasion of the marriage of the Princess Elizabeth with the Elector Palatine, contain the following entry: "Item. To John Baker, our upholsterer, for 3 quilts of fustian, lined with taffeta, filled with wool, and sewed with silk, and for 2 countcrpoynts of plush, both sides alike, sewed with silk," which is as complete and full a descrip- tion of the, details of former costly counterpanes as could be given. COVERLET. Ft. couvre-Ut, from cowan md lit, tectum, abed. Do.NALb : Chambers' 's Etymological Dictionary. The outermost of the COV ( 89 ) COV bed-clothes, that under which the rest is concealed.* Johnson. See Counterpane. " And the wyfe toke and spread a coverlet on the top of the well and strawed thereon steaped barley to drye." Bible, 1551, 2 Kings. " Lay her in lillies and in violets, And silken curtains over her display, And odour'd sheets and arras coverlets." Spenser : Ejpithalaviium, 1595. " With silken curtains and gold coverlets, Therein to shroud her sumptuous Bellamoure." Ib. : Faerie Queene. " Without the bed her other fair hand was On the green coverlet ; whose perfect white Show'd like an April daisy on the grass With pearly sweat, resembling dew of night." Shakespeare: Bape of Lucrece. D HAKE SPE ARE : " In ivory coffers I have stuffed my crowns ; In cypress chests my arras counterpoints, Costly apparel." Id. : The Tarn erpoints, The Taming of the Shrew. This done the host produced the genial bed, Sallow the foot, the borders, and the sted, Which with no costly coverlet they spread But course old garments." Dryden : Ovid's Metamorphoses. COVENTRY BLUE. Thread principally used for purposes of embroidery, of a vivid blue, very popular in the time of Elizabeth. It wa3 produced from a kind of indigo. A black letter tract, pub- lished in 1581 by W. S. (long attributed to Shakespeare, but now known to. have been written by William Stafford), with the long- winded title of A Compendious and brief Examination of certayne ordinary complaynts of divers of our Countrymen in these our days, recites sundry ordinary complaints — as the decay of towns, the dearth of provisions, the exportation of wool, inclosures, the true standard and intrinsic value of our money compared with that of foreign nations, among which is the following : "I have heard say that the chiefe trade of Coventry was heretofore in making blue threde, and then the town was riche, even upon that trade, in manner only ; and now our threde comes all from beyonde sea ; therefore that trade is now decaied, and thereby the town likewise." " Jerikin. She gave me a shirt collar wrought over with no counterfeit stuff. George. What, was it gold? Jerikin. Nay, 'twas better than gold. George. What was it ? Jenkin. Bight Coventry blue." The Finner of Wakefield, 1599. 11 It was a simple napkin, wrought with Coventry blue." Laugh and Lie JDown, or the Worldes Folly, 1605. COVERCHIEF. See Kerchief. * Other authorities as well as Johnson have traced the origin of the word to an assumed purpose of concealment, but that of bed-covering is far more feasible. CRA ( 90 ) CRA CRAPE. A thin transparent crisp or crumpled silk stuff, usually black, used in mourning. (Fr. crepe, Sp. crespon, Old E. crips, curled ; L. crispus, crisp. ) Donald. A sort of thin worsted stuff, of which the dress of the clergy is sometimes made. Bailey. Stuffs of various descriptions, such as described here by Bailey, have been called crapes, probably from some crisping or twill in the manu- facture. According to De Foe they were brought over here by the French refugees who fled here after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Their first effort, he says, "was our thin black crapes, a manufacture purely their own, and I refer to the memory of persons conversant in trade, how universally it pleased our people ; so that the least quantity in wool that ever was heard of in a garment supplying the room of a suit of cloth, it became a general habit, and the ladies of the best quality began to appear in a gown and petticoat under 25s., till, the meanness of the price giving every servant an opportunity to be as fine as her mistress, it grew a little obsolete among the women, then the men fell into it." ( Weekly Review, Dec. 30, 1704.) The account given of it by Chambers in his Cyclopaedia of 1741 is fully applicable to the manufacture of the present day. It is there described as — " A light transparent stuff, in manner of gauze ; made of raw silk, gummed and twisted on the mill ; wove without crossing, and much used in mourning. " Crapes are either craped, i.e., crisped, or smooth ; the first double, express- ing a closer mourning ; the latter single, used for that less deep. " Crapes are all dyed now. The invention of this stuff came originally from Bologna ; but the chief manufacture hereof is said to be at Lyons. " History tells us that S. Bathilda, Queen of France, made a fine crape, crepa, of gold and silver, to lay over the body of S. Eloy. The Bollandists own they cannot find what this crepa was. Benet says it was a frame to cover the body of the saint withal ; but others, with reason, take it to be a transparent stuff, through which the body might be seen ; and that this was the crepa whence our word crape was formed." Guicciardini, in 1560, mentions crape as a principal export from Bologna. Early in the present century a reversible dress material of mingled silk and worsted was produced at Norwich, and thence called Norwich crape. It attained such popularity as to supersede bombazine, and yet still employ the whole of the Norwich looms formerly employed in producing that material. James says that it was "woven in the grey, afterwards dyed in colours, and so dressed that the best sorts> would vie with an endless variety of richest satins." " To thee I often called in vain Agninst that assassin in crape." Swift. " And proud Roxana, fir'd with jealous rage, With fifty yards of crape shall sweep the stage." Id. 11 Round a young vestal's blooming face, Plain crape or other simple stuff, "Willi happy negligence enough." Cooper : Vcr. Vert. " The erape-olad hermit and . payed to Abraham of London for xij yardes iij qrt of murrey e Damaske at viij* viij d the yerde. " Fifteen yards of black Damaske is charged at per 8s. the yard, and seven yards of ' yeolowe ' at 8s. 8d. " 1578. ' vj| yards of damaske,' 58s. 6d.; and in the Household BooTcs of Lord William Howard, ' To 25 yeardes of dammaske for table cloathes, at 10s. a yearde,' £12 10s. " 1620. To Mr. Hall of Newcastell, for xvj yardes of damask at 17s. a yard for my Lady (Howard). " 1633. For 4 yeardes of dammaske at 10s. 6d. a yearde." " He gave to Lords juels manifold, Clothes of velvet, damask, and of gold, To get him hearts." Lydgate : The Story of Uiebes, 1561. " As soon as th' unskilful fool that's blind enough To call rich Indian damask Norwich stuff, Shall become rich by trade." Somervtlle : Horace. " "Wipe your shoes for want of a clout with a damask napkin." Swift's Rules to Servants. DAMASSIN, Damasquitte. An ingenious modification of brocade invented by the Venetians in the 17th century, which by being subjected after being woven to great pressure between rollers, caused the metal DAB ( 96 ) DIA wires which formed part of the fabric to appear in one unbroken and brilliant plate of gold or silver. These were afterwards successfully imitated in France, with the help of Vaucanson in producing machinery to compass the process so closely kept secret by the original manufacturers. DARN, To conceal a hole by mending or imitating the texture of the stuff. (Old English, derne; A. S. dearne, hidden ; or from Irish, dame ; YV. darn, a piece, a patch. ) Donald. DELAINES. A fine woollen fabric, originally called mousselines de laine, or muslins of wool, an expressive title which signifies fully what manner of fabric they properly should be . " They are indeed figured muslins, which should always be made of wool, but they are frequently of mixed material." Uee. DEPARTMENT. Something farted. DIAPER. (Ger. drell, Du. drel, Fr. linge ouvre, It. tela tessuta a opere, Sp. manteks alemaniscas.) " A sort of linen cloth wrought with flowers and other figures ; a towel, a napkin. Bailey. Fr. Diaprer, to Diaper, flourish, diversifie with flourishing. Cotgrave. Skinner mentions the conjecture that this word. owes its origin to the town of Ipre (Ypres) in Flanders ; hut adds that there is no reason given for helieving that Ipre was more famous for this manufacture than any other town. Dr. Anderson revives the conjecture, and Warton adopts it. The word they suppose was originally written ' D'ipre.' In confirmation Warton quotes from Chaucer's Wife of Bath — 1 Of cloth making she had such a haunt, She passed them of Ipre and of Gaunt.' Skinner proposes Fr. Divaire, to variegate. Du Cange, the It. Diaspro, Jasper. ' Diapred, embroidered, diversified. Rich cloth, embroidered with raised work, we call d'Ipre, and from thence Diaper, and to do this, or any work like it, was called to Diaper, whence the participle.' See "Warton's History of English Poetry. Richardson. Variegated cloth, originally like jasper ; linen cloth woven in figures, used for towels, &c. (Fr. diaprc, from root of Jasper ; or cloth indicate a one-coloured yet patterned silk, which diaper is, the Byzantine Creeks of the early middle ages invented the term diaspron, to signify what distinguishes or separates itself from things about it, as DIA ( 97 ) . DIA every pattern does on a one-coloured silk." With this textile the Latins took the name for it from the Greeks and called it " diasper," which in English has been moulded into "diaper." The derivation from jasper is said to be from the likeness of the shifting pattern to the changing lights of the stone. Early diapers were undoubtedly of silk, and this fact should have a bearing upon the derivation of the word, since the name could only in that case come from the pattern ; the only question then remaining being that whether diaper of Ypres was distinctively known before the date of these silken fabrics. In the museum at South Kensington will be found a most valuable and interesting series of ancient woven fabrics, as well as those decorated with embroidery, and in these the increase of the size of the pattern can be distinctly traced. Some of the diapers are very curious. One of them consists of a series of castles ; in each are two men holding hawks ; the size of each diaper being about six inches, and the date the fourteenth century. Another pattern is composed of angels with censers, executed in yellow on a purple ground, powdered with yellow stars ; the carnations and the clouds from which the angels issue are white. But the most gorgeous of all are the large patterns, executed in cloth of gold and red velvet, more especially when the gold wire is raised and looped. A fine piece of this sort of work forms the centre of the well- known pall of the Fishmongers' Company. (Art Applied to Industry.) The application of diapering to linen cannot definitely be traced. Ypres is said to have been founded in 960. In 1386 a company of linen weavers was established in London, consisting of such as had been brought over from the Netherlands by Edward III., when we may rea- sonably conjecture that the manufacture came into this country, but it is not until some two centuries later that frequent mention of diaper is found. It becomes then common enough, and was probably as commonly used. In the will of Sir William Pennyngton, 1533, "dyeper clothys," "dieper towells," and "dieper napkyns," are catalogued ; in that of William Knyvett, of Thorntonbrigs, 1557, are "v dyeper table clothes, playne table-cloths, a doson and a half of dyeper table napkings, one doson of playne table napkings, ij dyeper towells, and iiij playne towells," all stated to be ' ' overworn " ; and in the will of Johan Wiclif, 1562, we find entries of " ij table clothes of dyaper, iiij damask dyaper napkings. one towel of damask diaper, ix diaper napkings. one to wall dyaper." Holland diaper is entered at 3s. 7d. the yard in the Household Boohs oj Lord William Howard. " A stede bay, trapped in stele, covered with cloth of gold, diapred well." Chaucer : TJie Knight's Tale. * They of the towne deemed surely that they had been merchaunts, come thyder to the fayre to have bought cloth and dyaper, for they said they came from Mounte Pellier to bye murchaundyse." Berners : Froissart, Crony clc (1326-1400). " That other glittering armie with milk-white diaper coates must be died red in blood when they come to strokes, and to try it out with dint of sword." Holland : Livius. DIM ( 98 ) * DIM " Let one attend hini with a silver bason Fall of rose-water and bestrew" d with flowers; Another bear the ewer, a third a diaper." Shakespeare: Taming of the Shrew (*? 1596-7). " Whate'er the wanton spring, When she doth diaper the ground with beauties, Toils for, conies home to autumn." Ford : The Sun's Darling, 1657. " I have as good diaper, made by some of my tenants nigh Armagh, as can -some to a table, and all otber cloth for household use." Locke : Mr. Jloli- neux to Mr. Locke, Sept. 26, 1696. DIMITY. (Fr. basin, It. dobletto, Sp. dimite.) " A fine sort of fustian cloth. A cotton stuff. Bailet. A fine kind of fus- tian. A cloath of cotton. Johxsox. A cloth manufactured at Damietta. PiIchardsox. Originally a stuff woven with tv:o threads, from the Greek words t idee and a thread. In the same way the Greek name for velvet, sammet, is contracted from exhamita, from having been woven of six threads. " G. drillich, Ens. drill, a web of threefold thread, G. zidllieh, Eng. tidily a web of a double thread. "Wedgwood. A kind of a stout cotton cloth, striped or figured in the loom by weaving with tc:o threads of different colours* in the Avarp. (It. dimito,Gv. dimitos — di, twice : mitos, a thread of the warp ; or from Damietta in Egypt)." Doxald. We are met here with the same difficulty as in the consideration of diaper, with the additional disadvantage that very few instances of the manufacture or use of dimity can be found. Guicciardini, in his Descrip- tion of the Netherlands, 1560, states that Antwerp derived from Milan great quantities of gold and silver thread, various wrought silks, gold stuffs, fustians, and dimities of many fine sorts, with other goods. As to the derivation of the word, the Quarterly fie viae, in the article already noticed (see Blanket), lays down the law decisively : '• Mr. Taylor seems inclined to deduce ' dimity ' from the name of the place Damietta, though he alludes in a note to the supposed derivation from tbe Greek, with tbe meaning ' two threads.' There is, we conceive, no doubt whatever on the point. If ' dimity ' stood alone some question might be raised ; but when we find a number of different words formed on the same principle, the discussion is at an end. The following passage is quoted by Du- cange (in v. Dimitum) from Hugo Falcandus, a writer on the affairs of Sicily of the time of Frederic Barbarossa : ' Him deas (in officind paunonttn) amita, dimtta, ct tbimta n d nor i peritid eumtuque perfict; hinc bxhdoxa 'oris waterier copiA condenaari. That is to say. it' this reading ia correct, 4 From this manufactory you may see" amita," "dimita," and "trimita" worked up with a smaller amount of skill and expense. You may see, too, "cxhimita," made thick with abundance of richer matt rial.' It is mentioned in 1G41 as an article of home manufacture, and as being at that time a woollen material. In the Book of Kate* dimity exported is valued at Id. the yard, and that brought into the country at lis. a yard. ■■ Go pat on One of thy temple mitt, ami accompany u, Of else tliv (limit v breeehei will be mortal." Katxi: Th City Match h * There is no adducible authority for describing dimity as a particoloured material. JDIS ( 99 ) DOR DISCOUNT. A part deducted from the count. DISSECT. To divide or cut asunder (L. disseco, dissectus — dls, asunder, in pieces, seco, to cut). DISTAFF. The staff or stick which holds the bunch of flax, tow, or wool in spinning. (A.-S. distcef, Du. diesse, the bunch of flax on the staff. ) Donald : Chambers's Etymological Dictionary. A stick having a forked top, on which the carded material was wound previous to spinning. It was generally about a yard in length. Its use is very accurately and particularly described by the Roman poet Catullus : " The loaded distaff in the left hand placed, With spongy coils of snow-white wool was graced ; From these the right hand lengthening fibres drew, Which into thread 'neath nimble fingers grew. At intervals a gentle touch was given. - By which the twirling whorl was onward driven, Then, when the sinking spindle reach'd the ground, The recent thread around its spire was wound, Until the clasp within its nipping cleft Held fast the newly-finished length of weft." DITTO. Already said, from the Italian detto — Latin, dictum, said. DOESKIN. Cloth resembling the skin of a doe. > DOILY. Donald says this was originally the name of a woollen stuff, now a small napkin used at dessert, and, disregarding the tradition which assigns the credit of originating them to Sir John D'Oyley, prefers to derive the word from the Dutch dwcele, a towel. It is now more gener- ally used in toilet napery. DOMETT. A loosely-woven description of flannel, with cotton warp and woollen weft, generally employed for shrouds, and sometimes in the place of wadding by dressmakers. DORNOCK. A term now generally used for checkered table linen. Anderson, in giving the subject-matter of an Act of 1552, which gave a monopoly of the making of felt hats and thrummed hats, coverlets, and dornecks to Norwich and all corporate and market towns of Norfolk, defines "dornecks " as diaper-linen. The word has been spelt in many ways — dornix, darnex, dornex, darnec, darness, and many other varieties of arbitrary orthography. It would appear that it had a double signi- ficance, for dorneck is said to have been a coarse description of damask, wrought at Tournay in Flanders, and thence taking its name. The con- nexion does not appear very close until we learn that Tournay was fre- quently called Dorneck, that being its Dutch name. "The city had once a flourishing woollen trade," says the Atlas Geographicus, "which is now decayed (that is, early in the 18th century). We find the traces of that trade in the Dornick hangings and carpets mentioned by our old authors. ' But at the latter period we are told that it had a considerable trade "in a sort of table-linnen thence called Dornick." Nares. Norwich seems to have been always the English home of this manu- facture. "When the order of the procession of the occupations, crafts, or companies of that city, to be made on Corpus Christi day, was settled in 1533, the " Coverlet-weavers, Dornick- weavers, and Girdlers, with their banner," were assigned the eighth place. (Blomefield : h 2 DOW ( 100 ) DOW History of Norfolk.') The weaving: of dornick was one of the pageants paraded before Elizabeth on her visit to Norwich. The Booh of Ratcz, shows us the manner of " dornix " imported .in the 17th century : / with caddas, the piece, cont. 15 yards . . . . £1 10 x (with silk, the piece, containing 15 yards . . ..200 "3 ) with wooll, the piece, cont. 15 yards . . . . ..150 o \ with thred, the piece, cont. 15 yards . . . . ..100 ft I French making, the ell 2 6 \ French making, the yard . . . . . . ..020 as also those made in this country : •pv • fof English, making the yard .. .. .. ..009 <- called coverlets, English, the piece . . ..034 Tapestry or Dornix hangings, of what sort soever made in England, whereof any part of wooll, the pound weight .. .. * 10 DOWLAS. A coarse linen, very commonly worn by the lower classes in the 16th century. Skinner finds the origin of the word in Dourlaus, a town of Picardy formerly celebrated for this manufacture. The name is still perpetuated in a strong calico made in imitation of the linen fabric. Shakespeare in the First Part of King Henry IV. leaves no doubt as to the character of the material. " Hostess. I bought you a dozen of shirts to your back. Falstaff. Dowlas ! filthy Dowlas ! I have given them away to bakers' wives, and tbey have made bolters of them. Hostess. Now, as I am a true woman, holland of eight shillings an ell." This, with the kindred fabric of lockram, was once imported from Brittany in large quantities. Anderson, summing up the effects of the war which followed the Revolution of 16S9, instances the destruction of several very profitable French manufactures, which were either transferred to England directly, or else established by other nations. First among these he places the " most profitable linen manufacture, never likely to be regained, of two particular species, viz., dowlas and lockram, chiefly manufactured in Normandy and Brittany ; of which England was said to have taken off to the value of two hundred thousand pounds sterling annually. For England, not being well able to be without those two sorts of linen, set the Hamburghers on imitating them so well, that the very names of those French linens with us are buried in oblivion," which, as we yet, in one case, retain the name, is carrying assertion too far. " His olive-tanned complexion graces, With little dabs of Dresden laces. YVbile for the body Monnseer Puff "Would think e'en dowlas fine enough." French Barber, 17 " The maid, subdued by f<^cs, her trunk unlocks, And gives the cleanly aid of dowlas smocks." (i.w : To the Earl qf Burlington. DOWN. The soft hair under the feathers of fowls (Ger. ■- London, a perfect mine of fcopO- graphical and antiquarian lore, one of the beat of the many excellent sei l by thin well-known firm. DRA ( 103 ) DRA at St. Michael's, Cornhill. The funeral of Sir William Roche, Lord Mayor in 1523, was very splendid. First came two branches of white wax, borne before the priests and clerks, who paced in surplices, singing as they paced. Then followed a standard, blazoned with the dead man's crest— a red deer's head, with gilt horns, and gold and green wings. Next followed mourners, and after them the herald, with the dead man's coat armour, checkered silver and azure. Then followed the corpse, attended by clerks and the livery. After the corpse came the son, the chief mourner, and two other couples of mourners. The sword-bearer and Lord Mayor, in state, walked next ; then the aldermen, sheriffs, and the Drapery livery, followed by all the ladies, gentlewomen, and aldermen's wives. After the dirge, they all went to the dead man's house, and partook of spiced bread and comfits, with ale and beer. The next day the mourners had a collection at the church. Then the chief mourners presented the target, sword, helmet, and banners, to the priests, and a collection was made for the poor. Directly after the sacrament the mourners went to Mrs. Roche's house, and dined, the livery dining at the Drapers' Hall, the deceased having left £6 15s. 4d. for that purpose. The record concludes thus : ' And my Lady Roche, of her gentylness, sent them moreover four gallons of French wine, and al30 a box of wafers, and a pottell of ipocras. For whose soul let us pray, and all Christian souls. Amen.' The Company maintained priests, altars, and lights at St. Mary Woolnoth's, St, Michael's, Cornhill, St. Thomas of Aeon, Austin Friars, and the Priory of St; Bartholomew. " The Drapers' ordinances are of great interest. Every apprentice, on being enrolled, paid fees, which went to a fund called 'spoon silver.' The mode of correcting these wayward lads wa3 sometimes singular. Thus we find one Needswell in the parlour, on court day, flogged by two tall men, disguised in canvas frocks, hoods, and vizors, twopennyworth of birchen rods being expended on his moral improvement. The Drapers had a special ordinance, in the reign of Henry IV., to visit the fairs of "Westminster, St. Bartholomew, Spitalfields, and Southwark, to make a trade search, and to measure doubtful goods by the 'Drapers* ell,' a standard said to have been granted them by King Edward III. Bread, wine, and pears seem to have been the frugal entertainment of the * searchers.' " Decayed brothers were always pensioned ; thus we find, in 1526, Sir Laurence Aylmer, who had actually been mayor in 1507, applying for alms, and relieved, we regret to state, somewhat grudgingly. In 1834 Mr. Lawford, clerk of the Company, stated to the Commissioners of Municipal Inquiry that there were then sixty poor freemen on the charity roll, who received £10 a year each. The master and wardens also gave from the Company's bounty quarterly sums of money to about fifty or sixty other poor persons. In cases where members of the court fell into decay, they received pensions during the court's pleasure. One person of high repute, then recently deceased, had received the sum of £200 per annum, and on this occasion the City had given him back his sheriff's fine. The attendance fee given to members of the court was two guineas. "From 1531 to 1714, Strype reckons fifty-three Draper mayors. Eight of these were the heads of noble families, forty-three were knights or baronets, fifteen represented the City in Parliament, seven were DHA ( 104 ) * DBA founders of churches and public institutions. The Earls of Bath and Essex, the Barons Wotton, and the Dukes of Chandos are among the noble families which derive their descent from members of this illus- trious Company. That great citizen, Henry Fitz-Alwin, the son of Leofstan, goldsmith, and provost of London, was a draper, and held the office of mayor for twenty-four years. "In the Draper's Lord Mayors' shows the barges seem to have been covered with red or blue cloth. The trumpeters wore crimson hats, and the banners, pennons, and streamers were fringed with silk, and 1 beaten with gold.' The favourite pageants were those of the Assump- tion and St. Ursula. The Drapers' procession on the mayoralty of one of their members, Sir Robert Clayton, is thus described by Jordan in his London Industrie : " ' In proper habits, orderly arrayed, The movements of the morning are displayed. Selected citizens i' th' morning all, At seven o'clock, do meet at Drapers' Hall. The masters, wardens, and assistants joyn, For the first rank, in their gowns fac'd with Foyn. The second order do, in merry moods. March in gowns fac'd with Budge and livery hoods. In gowns and scarlet hoods thirdly appeares A goodly number of Foyn's Batchellors ; Forty Budge Batchellors the triumph crowns, Gravely attir'd in scarlet hoods and gowns. Gentlemen Ushers, which white staves do hold, Sixty, in velvet coats and chains of gold. Next, thirty more in plush and huff there are, That colours wear, and hanner hear. The Serjeant Trumpet thirty-six more brings (Twenty the Duke of York's, sixteen the King's). The Serjeant wears two scarfs, whose colours be, One the Lord Mayor's, th' other's the Company. The King's Drum Major, followed by four more Of the King's drums and fifes, make London roar.' *********** "The present Drapers' Kail is Mr. Jerman's structure, but altered, and partly rebuilt after the fire in 1744, and partly rebuilt again in 1S70. It principally consists of a spacious quadrangle, surrounded by a tine piazza or ambulatory of arches, supported by columns. The quiet old garden greatly improves the hall, which, from this appendage, audits own elegance, might be readily supposed the mansion of a person of high rank. •• The present Throgmorton Street front of the building is of stone and marble, and wis built by Mr. Herbert Williams, who also erected the splendid new ball, removing the old gallery, adding a marble staircase nt for an emperor's palace, and new facing the court room, the ceiling of which was at the same time raised, Marble pillars, stained glass windows, carved marble mantelpieces, gilt panelled ceilings— everything that is rich and tasteful- the arc! I with lavish profusion." It is not easy to and out when drapers became general traders, or dealt in anything but doth. That they at an early date so extended their business is evident from an ordinance of Qaeen Miry in 1654 that BHA ( 105 ) DE.TJ linen drapers,* woollen drapers, haberdashers, grocers, and mercers, who were not free of any corporate city and members of its guilds, should not be allowed to sell their wares therein, excepting in open fairs and by wholesale. * DRAWBOYS. Originally and properly boys who attended the draw loom, and facilitated the weaver's operations by lifting up the warp threads for the passage of the shuttle necessary in weaving figured fabrics, but applied afterwards to stuffs so woven. Dr. Aikin, in his History of Manchester, says that, as plain goods ceased to be in demand figured goods were manufactured by weavers who had looms suitably mounted, " but as figures made with treadles and confined to a scanty range, beyond which they grow too complicated, the workmen had recourse to the use of drawboys, which gave name to a new and im- portant branch of trade." The real boy was afterwards supplanted by a mechanical drawboy, which "consisted of a half- wheel, the rim or periphery of which was grooved so as to catch into the various strings required to be pulled down. This half-wheel travelled along a rack, or toothbar, oscillating at the same time from right to left, and drawing down particular cords as required to form the pattern, thus removing all possible chance of mistake by depressing the wrong handle." Tomlinson. This ingenious contrivance was in turn superseded by the Jacquard loom. DRESS. Literally to make straight. (Fr. dresser, to make straight, to prepare; L. dirigo, directum, to direct.) DRILL, Drilling. A three-cord fabric ; coarse linen. It is derived from the- German drillich, which through drei, three, bears a similar meaning. DRUGGET. A sort of woollen stuff. Bailey. A slight kind of woollen stuff. Johnson. A coarse woollen cloth, used as a protection for carpets (Fr. droguet, dim. of drogue, drug, trash). Donald. The present druggets warrant this latter derivation, but the character of the stuff as compared with that which once bore this title has won- derfully changed. In Observations on the- Woollen Manufacture, 1739, druggets plain and corded are enumerated among other stuffs of comb- ing and carding wool, and silk drugget is included among stuffs of mixed materials, as long wool and silk, or mohair and cotton ; Chambers in his Cyclopaedia, 1741, gives a description of them which leaves no doubt that some druggets were far from trashy : "Drugget, in commerce, a sort of stuff, very thin and narrow, usually all wool nnd sometimes half wool and half silk ; having sometimes the whale (twill), but more usually without, and woven on a worsted chain. Those without the whale ove on a loom with two treddles, afterthe same manner as linnen, camhlet, (S.C. M.Savary invented a kind of gold and silver Druggets; the warp heing 1 ar.ly gold and silver thread, and the woof linen." Linen drapers were once termed lineners. Ben Jonson, in his Ejriccene, mentions "Taylors, lineners, lace-women, embroiderers; " and in another passage of the same comedy says, "If he loves good clothes and dressing, have your learned council about you every morning, your French taylor, barber, linener, &c." DRY ( 106 ) - DTJF Twilled druggets were once commonly known in trade as corded druggets, but when of linen warp and woollen weft as threaded druggets, and were particularly a Devonshire manufacture. Its use as an article of clothing, common ever since the fabric has partaken of the character of baize, has now entirely ceased, so that we only know it as proper to the carpet department. '■ Even I, a dunce of more renown than they, Was sent before, but to prepare thy way ; And coarsely clad in Norwich drugget came, To teach the nations in thy greater name." Deydex : JfacFleclnoe. * He is of a fair complexion, light brown lank hair, having on a dark brown frieze coat, double-breasted on each side, with black buttons and button-holes ; a light drugget waistcoat, red shag breeches striped with black stripes, and black stockings. Advertisement of date 1703, quoted in Malcolm's Man- ners and Customs of London in tlie 18i7i Century. " In druggets drest of thirteen pence a yard, See Philip's son amidst the Persian guard." Swift. DRY GOODS. Drapery, as distinguished from groceries, soft goods. Not a term of American origin, as generally supposed, though now almost exclusively used there. A Report of the Honourable House of Commons appointed in the year 17-45, to inquire into the causes of the most infamous practice of Smuggling, contains the following passage : " From Yarmouth the principal officers give account that on the 22nd October, one hundred and twelve horses were laden on the beach near Benacre with dry goods by upwards of ninety men, guarded by ten persons with firearms ; and on the 20th of the same month forty horses were laden with dry goods at Kartley by riders well armed." DUCAPE. A plain- wove stout silken fabric of softer texture than Gros de Naples. Its manufacture was introduced into this country by the French refugees of 1G85. DUCK. A coarse linen (Scotch doocl; Sw. duk, cloth). DUFFEL, Duffle. Booth, in his Anylytical English Dictionary, 1S3j. says of this fabric : "DnfHe is a stout milled Flannel, but of greater breadth and differently dressed. It may be either perched or friezed (napped), and is sold of all colours. The grey Duffle, being B mixture of black and white, must necessarily be d\> d in the wool. Duffle should have a different orthography if it has had its mini; from Duffel, a town in France." This is the generally-accepted origin of the term. De Foe, in the Compleat English Tradesman, describes it as coarse woollen made in Cumberland, Lancashire, and Westmoreland, ami mentions it in his I'our through Great Britain as a speciality of Witney : •■ Being so aear Witney ire oonld nol forbear taking a ride to see a town - noted for the mannf actorea of Blanketting and rags, which thrive here in a moot '■■ Inordinary manner. Sere are at work L50 looms continually, for which above 8,000 people from eight \< an old and upwards are daily employd In card* pinning, iVc. and oonenme above eight] paoki of wool weekly. The blanket arensnalh ten or twelve quartera wide, and very white, which aome attribati the abateraive nitrona aratera of the River Windruah, wherewith they are DUN ( 107 ) DYE scoured ; but others believe it is owing to a peculiar way of loose spinning they use here ; others are of opinion that it proceeds from both. In consequence of which this town has engrossed the whole trade in that commodity. They likewise make here the Dulfield Stuffs, a yard and three quarters wide, which are carried to New England and Virginia, and much worn even here in winter." DUNSTER. A cloth so called from the place of its manufacture, a town in . the west of Somersetshire. It is mentioned in the Acts of 3 Edwd. III., 4 and 6 Edward VI., &c. DURANCE. Durance of Duretty with Thread, and Durance of Duretty with Silk, are mentioned in Charles I.'s Charter of 1640. It was most probably a name denoting an enduring fabric. So in the First Part of Henry IV., Prince Henry says to Falstaff, "Is not a buff-jerkin a most sweet robe of durance ; " and again in the Comedy of Errors, Dromio of Syracuse speaks of the sergeant of the band as one who "takes pity on decayed men, and gives them suits of durance." In the scene immediately preceding is this passage : " A devil in an everlasting garment has him, One whose hard hand is buttoned up with steel ; A fiend, a fairy, pitiless and rough, A wolf ; nay, worse, a fellow all in buff;" from which we may infer that durance was first only a name for buff- leather. Hence a stuff of that colour made in imitation of it, and very strong, was called durance. "Where did'st thou buy this buff? Let me not live but I will give thee a good suit of durance," is the address of a debtor to the officer who had arrested him, in Westward Hoe : whence it seems that the stuff durance was a new improvement, as a substitute for the buff leather : "Varlet of velvet, my moccado villain, old heart of durance, my strip'd canvas shoulders." Devil's Charter, 1607. (Nares. ) Duretty is also taken by antiquaries to represent a distinct but similar material, though the entries first quoted would lead to the inference that it was the place of manufacture from whence Durance was imported. Probably in direct descent from this stuff we get the more modern DURANT. A glazed woollen stuff called by some Everlasting Webstee. James, in his History of the Worsted Manufacture, describes durant as coarse tammy. On the other hand, Booth's Anylytical English- Dictionary, 1S35, in giving a more particular account of the article, styles it a better sort of tammy, and states further that it was little used in this country, but exported in considerable quantities to Spain and Por- tugal. Both Tamies and Durants were hot-pressed and glazed, but the former were kept at the full width of the cloth, while the latter were creased, that is, they were folded selvedge to selvedge, leaving a marked line, called a crease, running lengthwise along the middle of the piece. DYEING. The art of colouring wool, linen, cotton, silk, hair, fea- thers, horn, leather, and the threads and webs thereof, with woods, roots, herbs, seeds, and leaves, by means of salts, limes, lixiviums', DYE ( 103 ) - DYE waters, heats, fermentations, macerations, and other processes. Cyclo- poedla, 1741.* Of the remoter stages of this art but little is known. It is certain that the knowledge of imparting colours to fabrics was common in very- ancient times, of which conclusive proof is found in Scriptural reference to " blue, and purple, and scarlet." But as to the ingredients or methods employed there is little knowledge. Napier, in treating this subject in his Manufacturing Arts in Ancient Times, says : " The principal source of information is from general historians, the learned men of that day. Now, such arts as dyeing were held in verj' low estimation by these writers. Suppose that a general historian of the present day in one of his publications gives information concerning modern processes of dyeing and the dyestuffs used ; suppose also that he does trouble himself to obtain correct information ; notwithstanding, we can safely affirm, by having seen many examples, that his account would be but a piece of popular writing, incorrect in many particulars. This being the case, it is preposterous to expect correctness from such ancient writers as Pliny, who were too proud to visit workshops or make inquiry of trades- men concerning their processes. Pliny, on whom we mostly depend, evidently had this mistaken pride. He says : ' I should have described dyeing had it been included among the number of the liberal arts.' It is therefore consistent with his own statement to suppose that Pliny contented himself with the floating knowledge wafted to him by popular report, which concerning all arts is full of fallacies; besides,. Pliny lived at a time when the art of dyeing is considered to have beeu much behind what it had been centuries before. In Pliin-'s own time, at all events of his own knowledge, he knew indigo only as a pigment, and speaks of it as having been got from the sea; heuce it is supposed by * In this work is a curious classical disquisition on natural dyeing. In noticing how the refuse of some dyes, when given to hops to feed upon, was said to their bones red — a supposition now known to be true — the author says : ''This is a spontaneous kind of dying, not unlike that in Virgil, who speaks of - wool on the sheep's backs by their feeling on properly-coloured : •• ZI7J varios di liana col ores : ■ Murii •■< . jam < ra luto : ' tgues, IV.. v. 42. The difficulty is to eonrrive how lambfl should feed on the Band min< te with what is otherwise called 6 li is d ' Li for a plant, ig ago observed by Pliny : VirgiUti herbum This inference is drawn fr.>m the , which can mean nothing else hut thai the lambf -inq on th shoul l receive the dye in their fleeces from the aliment. ction which seta all to rights : (or pascentetht On which footing the tenour of the pas this: from that time there will be no d n^wool with beautiful colours; but the .1 have thi-ir :'. I •nt&neOU&ly; some with the nth the /Wins or yellow : others with mi Th thai idy in 1 Dg and had u h shall eh them hut all the lambs shall be dyed beautifully, ■ , atl birl DYE ( 109 ) DYE some writers that indigo as a dye was not known before his time. It may be that the Greeks and Romans in Pliny's time could, not dye with indigo ; but there is blue-dyed cloth still in existence dyed with indigo upwards of 1,000 years before Pliny was born." This author quotes an admittedly suggestive extract from the ancient historian so gravely censured respecting the processes employed in dyeing by the Egyptians : " They began by painting or drawing on white cloths with certain drugs which in themselves possessed no colour, but had the property of attract- ing or absorbing colouring matter ; after which these cloths were immersed in a heated dyeing liquor ; and although they were colourless before, and although this dyeing liquor was of one equable and uniform colour, yet when taken out of it soon afterwards the cloth was found to be won- derfully tinged of different colours, according to the peculiar nature of the several drugs which had been applied to their respective parts, and these colours could not afterwards be discharged by washing." Dyeing was not much cultivated in ancient Greece : the people of Athens wore woollen garments of the natural colour. The Romans were more atten- tive to the art, but after the invasion of the northern barbarians in the 5th century it was lost there, though it still continued to be practised in the East, and again appeared in Europe about the end of the 12th cen- tury. Florence then became celebrated for its dyes, and in the early part of the 14th century numbered not less than two hundred dyeing establishments. (Tomlinson : Useful Arts and Manufactures.) The early Britons had some knowledge of dyeing, as is proved by their practice of staining their bodies with woad. The Company of Dyers were incorporated in 1472 by Edward IV. In the reign of Edward VI. an Act was passed limiting the variety of colours to " scarlet, red, crim- son, murrey, pink, brown, blue, black, green, yellow, orange, tawney, russet, marble-grey, sadnew colour, azure, watchett, sheep's colour, motley, and iron-grey," to which were added in the time of William III. " violet, azure, friar's grey, crane, purple, and old medley." The dyers were strenuous in resisting innovations, and, as indigo was kept by their efforts out of France until the eighteenth century, so logwood encoun- tered severe opposition in this country. "Logwood seems to have been first brought to England soon after the accession of Queen Elizabeth : but the various and beautiful colours dyed from it proved so fugacious thatageneral outcry against its use was soon raised ; and an Act of Parlia- ment was passed in the 23rd year of her reign, which prohibited its use as- a dye under severe penalties, and not only authorised, but directed the (naming of it, in whatever hands it might be found within the realm ; and though this wood was afterwards sometimes clandestinely used (under the feigned name of black wood), it continued subject to this prohibition for nearly 100 years, or until the passing of the Act 13 and 14Chas. II. ; the preamble of which declares, that the ingenious industry of modern times hath taught the dyers of England the art of fixing; colours made of logwood, alias blackwood, so as that, by experience, they are found as lasting as the colours made with any other sort of dye- nig wood whatever; and on this ground it repeals so much of the statute of Elizabeth as related to logwood, and gives permission to import and use it for dyeing. Probably the solicitude of the dyers to obtain this permission induced them to pretend that their industry had done much more than it really had, in fixing the colours of logwood ; most of winch, DYE ( 110 ) DYE even at this time, are notoriously deficient in regard to their durability." (Bancroft : On Permanent Colours.) So early as 1484 an Act was passed prohibiting the use of " orchel or •cork of the kind called jare-cork," but "woaded wool and cloth made of wool only, if they were perfectly boiled and maddered, might be dyed with English cork." The practice of fastening rushes to the lists in order to make cloth dyed in the piece appear as if dyed in the wool was also sternly prohibited. Another Act of the next century (24 and Ho Henry VIII.) complained that " divers persons usynge the mysterye of dyers of late haue used a f als sleyghte waye in dyeing with brasell and such other subtyltees fyrst invented by alyens, to the gret hurt; and slaunder of woollen clothes died within this realme ; " it was there- fore enacted that " no person occupienge the sayde crafte of dyenge within this realme fro Cristmas next coming do dye or alter any woollen clothes, as browne, blewes, pewkes, tawnies, or violettes, or hattes, or cappes, except they be perfitely boyled, grained, or madered upon the wode, and shote with good and sufficient cork or orchall after a due substanciall meane of workmanship accordinge to the olde workmanship, nor occupye any brasell on the same, nor in scarlet any other thinge than grayne," upon pain of heavy penalties, which as usual is to be divided between the king and the detecting parties, with the exception in this d. per lb., which was afterwards reduced to 1h. per OWt. ELL. .\ meaanre of length, originally taken From the arm; a cloth are eqnal to 1 J yds. (A.-S. *///, Scot. elne t Vv.anim, L. u < , the elbow, the arm). The yard tnd tli" ell were originally identioal measures in England. From the period of the Conquest down to the time of Richard II. tin EMB ( ]13 ) EMB statutes and official documents were either in the Latin or in Norman- French, and the yard or ell (virga or verge, ulna or aulne) were employed indiscriminately to express the same unit of length. In the clause of Magna Charta relating to weights and measures, the term ulna is used as the unit of cloth measure, whilst in Doomsday Book land measured by the yard is called terra virgata. The identity of the yard and ell is also clearly established by the old statute of uncertain date, prior to the reign of Edward II., entitled "Compositio ulnarum et perticarum," in which we find the well-known rule laid down, that three barleycorns make an inch ; twelve inches a foot ; three feet an ell {ulna) ; five-and- a-half ulne a perch ; forty poles in length and four in breadth, an acre. Chisholm : Weighing and Measuring. King Henry I. is said by Hovenden to have corrected what he termed the false ell of the merchant, making the length of his own arm the true standard or ell for the future. EMBROIDERY. The enriching of a cloth or stuff by working diverse figures thereon with needle and thread of gold and silver. The word "embroidery" is derived from the French broiderie, of broidre, to embroider ; which some deduce by transposition from bordeur, by reason they formerly embroidered only the borders of stuffs ; whence the Latins also call the embroiderers limbularii. That done with silk, flax, or the like is not now called embroidery ; though anciently and properly the word denoted all kind of figuring or flourishing. (E. Chambers.) L. acupretus, painting with the needle. An art so ancient that it is considered doubtful whether it did not precede actual weaving. The Greeks attributed its origin to the goddess Minerva, as the Egpytians ascribed spinning to Isis ; the Peruvians to Mama Ella, the consort of their first sovereign, Mango Capac, and the Chinese to the wife of the emperor Yao. Evidence of the antiquity of skilled needlework is found in the account of the building of the Tabernacle. Aholiab, of the tribe of Dan, was noted for skill in embroidery. Another passage in Ezekiel mentions ' ' broidered work from Egypt."* Its introduction is usually assigned to the inhabitants of Phrygia ; but it is possible that an art so obvious in its application extends far beyond tradition, and is coeval with the earliest civilization, as traces of it have been found among the most savage and least industrial races. " As to the ornamentation of woven fabrics, or rather, according to what principles it has developed itself, we can only be guided by conjectures and draw conclusions from analogy, the process probably having been to advance from the simple to complex lines ; then to geometrical patterns, botanical designs ; next to figure ornaments taken from the animal world, until at last a culminating point was reached in the employment of figural motives and rich sceneries, object and effect being in the main the source, both in woven fabrics and embroideries. The difference between the two is in the mode and manner of producing the ornamental design. In woven * Other passages of similar significance can be quoted. In the Song o Deborah mention is made of " divers colours of needlework on both sides.' Achan was tempted by an embroidered garment of Babylon, and David speak of the bride being brought before the king in " raiment of needlework." EMB ( 114 ) EMB fabrics the ornamental grows simultaneously with the texture in a mechanical manner ; in embroideries a woven stuff is required as a foundation, and the free artistic hand works out the embellishment on it. The origin of the ornamentation of woven fabrics, therefore, may be conceived in a more simple and natural manner, since plaiting with bast, bent-grass, rushes, straw, &c, evidently preceded the process of weaving ; and in these first productions of human art-industry a certain type was given for weaving. Embroidery, on the other hand, presupposes aptitude in sewing, a sort of occupation which is far more complicated and difficult. Professor Semper is of opinion that art- embroidery is older than art«weaving, as far as figural representa- tions are concerned ; that, however, the weaving of coloured stuffs originated earlier than vari-coloured embroidery, that is to say, than the simple embroidered design which may pass as an imitation of the woven pattern, and follows the sample of the woven tissue. .... Assyria, the great land of culture on the Euphrates and Tigris, led the fashion in Asia, and ruled from 1200 B.C. to 600 a.d. as dependencies all the neighbouring countries — Babylon, Persia, Media, as far as the Coast of Asia Minor, and the shores of the Black Sea — with her art and industry. Weaving and embroidering were cultivated and developed to an extraordinary degree of excellence, and the ornamentation of the Assyrians likewise surpassed that of the Egyptians, who did not rise beyond the geometrical designs We find with the Assyrians not only stars and rosettes joined together, or distributed in skilful arrangement; not only curved meander-like lines, palm-leaf-shaped foliage ornaments, designed in beautiful style, but also rich figural representations, sym- bolic religious sceneries, combats of animals, and those fantastic animal figures with human heads, bodies of lions with large wings, the bold composition of which could only originate from an extraordinarily fer- tile and rich imagination, capable of entering the darkness of Nature's secrets, and creating forms and images representing the power of nature. And what point of excellence they must have reached in tapestry weaving, since the Babylonic-Assyrian tapestries were celebrated in remote antiquity throughout the whole land of culture in Asia. . . . On the borders of the Assyrian-Babylonic culture — in Asia Minor — we meet the Phrygian-Lydian culture, which had completely preserved in its fundamental type the Oriental character, and yet formed a certain contrast to the Assyrian manner. Oriental splendour is still represented here, but not with such massive heaviness and a certain stiffness which characterizes the Assyrian art ; on the contrary, a tendency for rich, variegately-ornamented, close-fitting costume, with dazzling colours, rich ornamentation, and elegant cut, began to prevail ; so that in the costume of the Phrygian the beauty of form was made to produce an effect likewise, although the vari-coloured ornamentation and profuse embroidery somewhat concealed to the eye the beautiful outline of the figure. Phrygia was, therefore, considered by the Greeks and the Romans as the real home of the art of embrodery, as the place where it had been i ii vented, for which reason embroidered garments were called Phrygians, and the Romans, consequently, knew of no other word for embroiderer than " phrygio.'' We find, however, in this part of Asia Minor art- UMB ( 115 ) EMB weaving practised just as much as embroidery, and, indeed, highly- developed. Industrial Art* Artistic needlework appears to have been introduced here among the Anglo-Saxons, whose wives acquired such a reputation that " Angli- cum opus " was current upon the Continent to denote excellence of design and workmanship. Bede mentions palls "of incomparable workmanship," and Adhelm, Bishop of Sherborne, who died a.d. 709, speaks of the ' ' admirable art " shown by the ladies of that period. So at a later date the Norman-English textiles were richly ornamented with various devices, so that these fabrics acquired more than a local fame. Thus we read on the one hand that Sir John Cobham, in 1394, bequeathed to hi3 heirs a bed of Norwich material, embroidered with butterflies, and, on the other, that Charles V. of France prided himself on the pos- session of an English " bulling" or " hailing," as the hangings of those times were called, described as " une salle d'Angleterre vermeille brodee d'azitr, et est la bordeuse a vignettes et le dedans de lyons, d'aigles et de ly spars." 1 ' How highly English embroideries were at one period appreciated by foreigners may be gathered from the especial notice taken of them abroad, as we may find in Continental documents. Matilda, queen of William the Conqueror, carried away from the Abbey of Abingdon its richest vestments, and would not be put off with inferior ones. In his will, A.D. 1360, Cardinal Talairand, Bishop of Albana, speaks of the English embroideries on a costly set of white vestments. A bishop of Tournai, in 1343, bequeathed to that cathedral an old English cope, as well as a beautiful corporal ' of English work.' While so coveted abroad, our English embroidery was highly prized and well paid for at home. We find in the Issue Rolls that Henry the Third had a chasuble embroi- dered by Mabilia, of Bury St. Edmund's, and that Edward the Second paid a hundred marks to Rose, the wife of John de Buref ord, a citizen and mercer of London, for a choir-cope of her embroidering, and which was to be sent to the Pope as an offering from the Queen." Dr. Rock. In the Fabric Rolls of York Minster (Surtees Society) appear scant descriptions of ecclesiastical vestments, which show to what excellence the ornamentation of fabrics early attained. Thus in 1521 are entries of " a nold vestment wroght with byrdis," and others of " tawny da- maske with Saint Christofre on the one side," of " biak silke wroght with beestis," of "blew velvet w*. with flowers of gold," of " red with flowers and birdes." In 1543 entries occur of vestments of "red worsyt with garters," another of the same material "with sters," and one of ''white fustyan with flowyrs." About the same time, also, are several items of copes, of most elaborate work, which from the shape of the garment must * Among the Greeks the art attained high excellence, so that the influence of their work remained through after ages, and affected all subsequent styles. Homer frequently alludes to women's work, and Penelope is shown as diverting her thoughts with needlework during the absence of her lord, and employed on the web which was to form his shroud. Ulysses brought home, too, a number of embroidered garments, given to him by his various entertainers during his travels. " Helen, the fair lady, stood by the coffer wherein were her robes of curious needlework, which she herself had wrought. Then Helen, the fair lady, lifted one and brought it out, the widest and most beautifully embroidered of all," and sent it by Telemachus as a present for his future wife. i 2 EMP ( 116 ) erm: I necessarily have been embroidered. Those enumerated above may have been wrought either with the needle or in the loom. " Two copes with daisies. Two copes of red velvett with eagles. Two copes of red velvett with angells. Two copes of cloth of tishewe, the one having the Resurrection, the other St. Peter on their backe. A cope of damask clothe of golde with St. John Baptiste on the backe. Four blew copes, one with the Resurrection, one with the Assumption, the thirde with the Trinity, and the f ourthe the Salutation on the backe with orphrys (bands of gold embroidery). One grene cope with partriche. One grene cope of velvett with bulls heads. One grene cope of velvett with starres of goulde. A blew sattin cope with angells." This occupation, in common with all occupations, seems to have been fostered and maintained by the conventual establishments, in which all the inmates knew, practised, and taught some handicraft ; so that monasteries became not only the centres of learning but also of skilled industry. Thus we find, so Mrs. Palliser states, monks commended for their skill in embroidery ; and in the frontispiece of some of the early pattern books of the 16th century men are represented working at frames, and these books are stated to have been written " for the profit of men as well as of women." In 1480, Martin Jumbard, em- broiderer, was paid for embroidering eight great roses at 4d. each, and forty-eight small roses at Id. each, showing that masculine needlework was an established and well-paid occupation. The JBroiderers' Company was formally incorporated in 1561, but the craft was recognized and the craftsmen banded together prior to that date, for in 1533, when the order of precedence in procession of the companies of Norwich (see Dornock), the "Tailors, Broiderers, Hosiers, and Skinners, who keep their gild on the third Sunday after Trinity," were assigned the fifteenth place. " Embroidered was he as it were a mede, All of fresh flowers, white and red." Chaucer : Canterbury Tales. " Here the needle plies its busy task ; The pattern grows, the well-depicted flower, Wrought patiently into the snowy lawn. Unfolds its bosom ; buds, and leaves, and sprigs, And curling tendrils, gracefully dispos'd Follow the nimble fingers of the fair — A wreath that cannot fade, of flowers that blew "With most success when most besides decay." Cowper : The Winter Evening. EMPLOYER. Derived from the similar French term, and that again from the Latin implicarc, to infold. EMPORIUM. A place of extensive trade or commerce. (L., Gr. emporion — empor08 t a trader — cm, en, in, and poros, a way — pcrao, to pass through.) Donald: Chambers' 1 s Etymological Dictionary. ERMINE. A northern animal of the weasel kind, valued for its fur ; its white fur, an emblem of the purity of judges and magistrates, whose EST ( 117 ) EYE robes are lined with it. (Usually given from the Armenian rat ; but Fr. hermine, Ger. hermchen, a weasel). Id. : lb. It. ermellino, Sp. armiflo, Port, arnimbo, Du. hermelijn, Da., Sw. hermelino. The little animal from which this valuable far is taken resembles the English weasel. In sum- mer its coat changes to a dingy brown, but in winter assumes the spotless white by which the fur is distinguished, and thus amid the surrounding snow evades its numerous enemies. The tip of the tail alone is Mack, and is generally supposed to be used in preparing the fur for wear. " In England there is now no restriction on the wearing of this fur, but in the reign of Edward III. it was forbidden to all but the royal family, and a similar prohibition still exists in Austria. There is, how- ever, a characteristic distinction made in the mode of ornamenting the fur employed on state occasions, according as it is worn by the sovereign, or by peers, peeresses, judges, &c. The sovereign and royal family can alone wear ermine trimmings in which the fur is spotted all over with black — a spot in about every square inch of the fur. These spots are not formed by the tail of the ermine, but of the paws of the black Astrachan lamb. The crown is also adorned with a band of ermine with a single row of spots, Peeresses wear capes of ermine in which the spots are arranged in rows, the number of rows denoting their degrees of rank. Peers wear robes of scarlet cloth, trimmed with pure white ermine without any spots. But the number of rows or bars of pure ermine in this case also denotes the rank. The robes of judges are also scarlet and pure white ermine." Tomlestson : Cyclopcedia of Useful Arts. ESTRICH, Estridge. The fine soft down immediately underlying the feathers of the ostrich, which has long been an article of com- merce. Within recent times it has been used as a substitute for beaver in making hats, or with the coarser qualities in the production of a stuff resembling fine woollen cloth. " Estridge wooll," as well as " bever wooll," was allowed to be imported free in the time of Charles II. EXPORT, from the Latin ex, out, and porto, to carry, is self- explanatory. EYELET. From ozillet, a diminutive of the Fr. mil, an eye, represents a small eye or hole, made to take a cord or string, as in lacing, to gar- ments. " The silver coins of Henry V. are supposed to be distinguished from those of his father by two little circles on each side of the head, which are thought to have been intended for eyelet-holes: "from an old stratagem," says Leake in his Historical Account of English Money, " when he was Prince, whereby he recovered his father's favour, being then dressed in a suit full of eyelet-holes : from that time may likewise be dated an extraordinary change of manners, which proved so much to the honour of himself and the kingdom, and therefore not an im- proper distinction of the money of this Prince from the others of the same name." The story in question, which is told at great length by Holinshed, Speed, Stow, and other chroniclers of that age, is, briefly, that when the worst suspicions of the conduct of his son had been infused into the mind of Henry IV., the Prince regained his father's favour by appearing before him, and offering the King his dagger, that he FAB ( US ) FAL might if he pleased take his life on the spot. On this occasion, it seems, "he was appareled in a gown of blue satin, full of small eyelet- holes, at every hole the needle hanging by a silk thread with which it was sewed ; about his arm he ware a hound's collar set full of SS of gold, and the terets likewise being of the same metal." But what par- ticular part of the stratagem this fantastic dress was in tended to play does not appear . The story looks at the best as if we had got only the half of it ; but it is probably altogether an invention of a later age, and instead of having been the origin of the eyelet-holes on the coin, it is most likely the offspring of that device." (Craik.) See Aglet. FABRIC. Workmanship, from the Latin fabrica—faber, a worker in hard materials — facio, to make. FACTORY originally implied the residence of factors, that is, agents or brokers. "Factors are chiefly either charged with the buying or selling of goods, or with both. " Those of the first kind are usually established in places of considerable manufactories or cities of great trade. Their office is to buy up commodities for merchants residing elsewhere, to see them packed, and send them to the persons for whom they were bought." The modern significance of the term is too well known to need explanation. The factory system has arisen from the rapid growth of industry, and the consequent subdivision of labour, which rendered necessary the centralization of various departments of manufacture. It has gradually grown to its present dimensions since the time of Ark - wright, whose inventions made it necessary, and who is generally regarded as its founder. FAG-END. The end of a piece which fags, or flaps about. FALDING. Chaucer's Shipmanne, in his Canterbury Talcs, is- arrayed " All in a gown of falding to the knee." According to Skinner,* who derives the word from the Anglo-Saxon feald (plica), it was a kind of coarse cloth like frieze. Fallot, in Irish, according to Llhuyd, signifies a mantle. It was of a coarse serviceable kind of texture, used for rough external purposes, and also employed as a covering for beds or sideboards in the middle ages. Thus the Clerk in Chaucer's Miller a Talc is described as having " Hisprcsse icorered with a faldying red.'' A coarse red woollen cloth of homo manufacture and dye is still worn by the Irish peasant Women for jackets and petticoats, whiofa is pro- bably identical with the ancient faldyng, (Faikhou.) A lf>th-cen- tury tract, entitled Thi I Englith Poh'ey givet, with wool, hides, linen, and many various skins, falding as an export from Ireland of that period, which is eonlirmatory of this view of its origin. Bailey, in sup- port of tin- estimate given 01 its character, describes it as " a kind ot coarse cloth.'' • Etymologx rua Anglicana, 1671. FAL ( 119 ) FAN FALL. A term now employed to denote a veil, but formerly sig- nifying a kind of ruff, or band for the neck, also known as Falling- band. Fairholt thinks they were something like bands, but larger, yet admits that they might be a species of ruff. It is very likely that the names have been applied to one article worn in two different ways, the fall being really a wide collar with trimmed edges, sometimes worn falling over the shoulders, at others starched and stiffened, so that it stood out like a ruff. "And, do you hear ? you must wear falling hands, you must come into the falling fashion ; there's such a deal of pinning these ruffs, when the fine clean fall is worth all ; and, again, if you should chance to take a nap in the after- noon, your falling band requires no poking stick to recover its form : believe me, no fashion to the falling land, I say." Marston: Malcontent, 1604. 11 Nay, he doth wear an embleme 'bout his neck ; For under that fayre ruffe so sprucely set Appeares B.fall, & falling band, forsooth." Ib. : Satires. " There she sat with her poking stick, stiffening a fall." Laugh and Lie Boxen ; or, the World's Folly, 1605. " Now up aloft I mount unto the ruffe, Which into foolish mortals pride doth puffe : Yet ruffes' antiquity is here but small — Within this eighty years not one at all ; For the Eighth Henry (as I understand) Was the first king that ever wore a band; And but a falling band, plaine with a hem, All other people knew no use of them. Yet imitation in small time began, To grow that it the kingdom overran The little falling bands increased to ruffes, Ruffes (growing great) were waited on by cuffes. And though our frailty should awake our care, We make our ruffles as careless as we are." Taylor (the Water Poet), 1630. " Why Women wear a Fall. " A question 'tis why women wear a fall ? The truth on't is, to pride they're given all, And pride, the proverb says, will have a. fall." Wit's Recreation, 1640. "This new mode succeeded the cumbersome ruff; but neither did the bishops or judges give it over soon, the Lord Keeper Finch being, I think, the very first." Evelyn : Numismatia, 1699. FAN. Literally, that which blows (A.-S. fann, Ger. xvanne, Fr. van, L. r annus, allied to L. ventus. Donald.) Commonly known among the Greeks and Romans, but not brought into this country until the 16th century, being introduced here from Italy in the reign of Henry \ III. The first fans were composed of a bunch of feathers, obvious evidence of their Eastern origin, where similar articles are still used. The feathers of the peacock, ostrich, parrot, and pheasant were used in their construction, and the handles were frequently formed of very costly materials, and were attached to the girdle of the wearer by chains of the aame metal as that with which they are mounted. Silver-handled fans are mentioned in the Satires of Hall, and among the new year's FAN ( 120 ) FAN presents of Elizabeth was a fan with its handle set with diamonds. The Company of Fan-makers was incorporated by Queen Anne in 1709. 11 Were fannes and flappes of feathers fond, To flit away the frisking flies, As tail of mare that hangs on ground When heat of summer doth arise, The wit of women we might praise For finding out so great an ease, * But seeing they are still in hand In house, in field, in church, in street, In B umm er, winter, water, land, In colde, in heat, in dry, in weet, I judge they are for wives such tooles As babies are in playes for fooles." Stephen Gossok : Pleasant Quippes for Upstart New-fangled Gentlewomen, 1596. Nares in his Glossary, 1822, gives an excellently-illustrated account of fans as they were : "The fan of our ancestors was not at all in the shape of the imple- ment now used under the same name, but more like a hand-skreen. It had a roundish handle, and was frequently composed of feathers." " The feathers of their (the ostriches) wings and tailes, but especially of their tailes, are very soft and fine ; in respect whereof they are much used in the fannes of gentlewomen." Coryat : Crudities, 1611. The handles were often silver : M While one piece pays her idle waiting- man, Or buys a hood or silver-handled fan." Hall (1574-1656) : Satires. It appears that these fans were sometimes very costly, the handles being of gold, silver, or ivory inlaid : sometimes as much as £40 in value. Hence they were an object of plunder. " And when Mrs. Bridget lost the handle of her fan, I took'tupon mine honour thou hadst it not." Merry Wives of Windsor. Mrs. Bridget's handle apparently produced half a crown, for Pistol immediately asks : u Didst thou not share ? hadst thou not fifteen pence ? " Four of these fans are delineated in the notes on this passage from Titian, and other ancient designs, in Johnson and Steevens's edition. The feathers of these fans are very frequently mentioned : " For a garter, For the least feather in her beauteous fan." Ben Joxson : Cynthia's Bevels, 1600. •' Ravish & feather from a mistress' fan, And wear it as a favour." Massinger : Tlve, Bondman, 1624. It was a piece of state for a servant to attend on purpose to carry the lady 'a fan when she walked out. This was one ot the offices of her gentleman UBher. The Nurse in Borneo and Juliet affects this dignity (act ii. sc. 4). " The mistress must have one to carry her cloake and hood, another her fan." fiervinyman'8 Comfort, 1598. FAR ( 121 ) FAR It appears that men were sometimes effeminate enough to use such a fan. Phantastes, a male character, is so equipped in the old play of Lingua ; and Greene reproaches the men of his day for wearing plumes of feathers in their hands, which in wars their ancestors wore on their heads. (Farewell to Folly, 1591.) Looking-glasses were sometimes set in these fans, in the broad part above the handle, near the setting on of the feathers : " In this glasse you shall see that the glasses which you carry in your fans of feathers, shew you to be lighter than feathers." Euphues. Lovelace (1618-1658) addressed a copy of verses to his mistress's fan, which he describes as made of ostrich's feathers dyed sky-blue, with a looking-glass set in it : "A crystal mirror sparkles in thy breast." *' The fan shall flutter in all female hands, And various fashions learn from various lands. For this shall elephants their ivory shed, And polished sticks the waving engines spread. His clouded mail the tortiose shall resign, And round the rivet pearly circles shine. On this shall Indians all their art employ, And with bright colours stain the gaudy toy ; Their pains shall here in wildest fancies flow, Their dress, their customs, their religions show. Gay France shall make the fan her artist's care, And with the costly trinket arm the fair." Gay. FARTHINGALE. A kind of crinoline made of whalebone for distend- ing the dress, introduced by Queen Elizabeth. (Fr. vertugade, verdugalle, Sp. verdugado, verdugo, a rod, a plait). Donald : Chambers's Etymological Lid. Bailey also quotes a fantastic derivation from vertu gard, i.e., the Guard of Virtue, because it was said to have been used to conceal a lapse which might have otherwise cost a woman's reputation ; an origin of the mode also assigned to its modern revivals.* These pro- genitors of crinolines differed from them in protruding more at the waist, so as to resemble a beehive in shape. Charles IX. of France, by the 146th article of the Edict of Blois, fixed a standard of the size of farthin- gales, forbidding women to wear farthingales of more than an ell or an ell and a half in circumference. Naturally this caused the dimensions of these articles to increase more and more. " Alas, poore verdingales must lie in the street, To house them no dore in the citie made meet, Since at our narrow doores they in cannot win, Send them to Oxforde, at Brodegates, to get in, ********* Placing both hands upon her whalebone hips, Puft up with a round circling farthingale." Heywood : Micro- Cynicon — Sixe Snarling Satyres, 1599. " The firm fixture of thy foot would give an excellent motion to thy gait, in a semi-circled farthingale." Merry Wives of Windsor. * Will Honeycomb knew "whose frailty was covered by such a sort of petticoat." Somerville has a similar allusion : " 'Twas vain to hide the apparent load, For hoops were not then a la mode" FAS ( 122 ) FAS " We are told that the first woman who wore a farthingale was desirous of concealing the fruits of indiscreet love. Be this as it may, Claude of France, wife of Francis I., is the first female represented by our monuments with the ridiculous petticoat." La Belle Assemblee, May, 1807. See Crinoline ; Hoop. FASHION. The make or cut of a thing ; form or pattern ; prevailing mode or shape of dress : a prevailing custom : manner : genteel society : in New Test., appearance. Donald.* (Fr. Jacon, L. f actio — facio, to make.) " Fashion wears out more apparel than the man." Shakespeare. " In words, as fashions, the same rule will hold, Alike fantastic, if too new or old : Be not the first by whom the new is tried, Nor yet the last to lay the old aside. Pope : Essay on Criticism. " Fashions have their origin in vanity." Montesquieu. " An excessive love of dress is due rather to ennui than vanity." Rousseau. " Dress is a part of ourselves." Buffon. " A fashion has no sooner supplanted some other fashion than its place is taken by a new one, which in turn makes way for the next, and so on ; such is the feebleness of our character. While these changes are taking place, a cen- tury has rolled away, relegating all this finery to the dominion of the past." La Bruyere. " Taste is arbitary in many matters, as with dress, jewellery, equipages, and everything that does not come within the domain of the fine arts; and in these cases it may be more appropriately termed fancy. It is fancy rather than taste which originates so many new fashions." Voltaire. " Fashion, the arbiter and rule of right." Francis : Horace. " Fashion is the most wonderful of all human vanities, and the most remark- able thing about it is that whether a pretty girl disguises herself in Queen Anne's hoops, Elizabethan petticoats, immense Pompadour coiffure, Victorian crinoline, or republican scantiness ; whether she puts patches and paint on her cheek ; whether she runs great rings through her nose ; whether she wears a coal-scuttle for a bonnet, as thirty years ago, or an umbrella for a hat, as last year ; whether she displays her figure as this year, or hides it altogether as fifteen years ago ; whether she walks as Nature meant her to walk, or affects a stoop ; whether she pretends in the matter of hair and waist, or whether she * The word is said to be corrupted from the Fr. farcino, the farcy, a disease to which horses are subject, and hence some apparently unintelligible allusions to fashions in old plays. Dekker in Old Fortunatus makes a character ask, " What shall we learn by travel ?" to which the reply is made, "Fashions," and the retort, " That's a beastly disease." In the Taming of the Bhn IS, " Troubled with the lampass : infected with the fashions." In 1713 a song on the various modes of dress, concludes — " Thus are we become As apes of Rome, Of France, Spain, and all nations ; And not horses alone, But men are grown Diseased of th&fa§hit vs."' FEA ( 123 ) FEA is content with what the gods have given her — she cannot, she may not, suc- ceed in destroying her beauty. Under every disguise the face and figure of a lovely woman are as charming, as bewitching, as captivating as under any other When it comes to young women who are not pretty — but perhaps, as the large-hearted Frenchman said, ' il rCy en a pas ' — there are no young women who are not not pretty." By Celiacs Arbour. FEATHER. Literally, that which flutters (A.-S. fyther, Ger. feder, Dutch, veder : connected with L. penna, Gv.pteron, Sanscrit, patatra — pat, to fly). Donald. Feathers as ornaments were not used in England until the close of the 13th century, and from that time until the 18th century used almost exclusively by men. Dr. Yeats sums up the feathers of commerce in a very comprehensive and concise manner, distinguishing between those worn for ornament and those presumably useful. Ornamental Feathers. — It is impossible to enumerate all the birds whose beautiful plumage supplies us with ornamental feathers. The feathers of the bird of paradise, the gold and silver pheasants, the peacock, of the several species of ibises, the flamingo, the beautiful wing and tail feathers of the Argus pheasant, and the wing of the partridge and ptarmigan are all worn in children's and ladies' hats. Cocks' feathers furnish plumes for the French soldiers ; eagles' feathers are worn in the hat and bonnet in Scotland; and a plume of them is a mark of distinction among the Zulus in South Africa. The wing and side feathers of the turkey supply trimmings for articles of ladies apparel, and are made into victorines, boas, and muffs. Artificial flowers made from feathers are now much worn by ladies. The feathers selected for their manufacture are chiefly those of a purple, copper, or crimson colour, from the breasts and heads of humming-birds. Feathers are also worn as articles of clothing. The skin of the swan, after being properly prepared, is used for muffs, linings, and a variety of other articles of dress ; the skin and feathers of the penguin, puffin, and grebe {Podiceps cristalus) are worn as clothing on account of their beauty and warmth, supplying suitable material for victorines, tippets, boas, cuffs, and muffs, and other articles of winter attire. The native inhabitants of the Arctic regions, in some parts, make themselves coats of bird-skins, which are worn with the feathers inside. Confucius, the Chinese philosopher, writes that ere the art of weaving silk and hemp was understood mankind used to clothe themselves with the skins of beasts and with feathers ; and it is very certain that the Chinese are now very skilful and ingenious in the art of pltfmagery or feather- working. They manufacture garlands, chaplets, frontals, tiaras, and crowns of very thin copper, on which purple and blue feathers are placed with much taste and skill. {Natural History of Commerce.) Fernando Cortez, the Spanish discoverer, is said to have found abun- dance of curious works in feathers in the palace of Montezuma, the Emperor of Mexico, which were so excellent that they are described as being " so artificial and neat that they cannot be described in writing, or presented to the imagination, except a man sees them," and so that none could make in silk, wax, or needlework anything comparable to them. The natives of Florida, and other natives of the West Indian island?, made of feathers garments of "marvellous art and curiosity, as also rare and exquisite pictures." PEL ( 124 ) FEL 11 Besides this, of late there is a new fashion of wearing their hattes sprong up amongst them, which they father upon the Frenchmen, namely, to wear them without bandes, but how unseemly (I will not say how- assie) a fashion that is, let the wise judge. And an other sort (as phantastical as the rest) are content with no kind of hat without a great bunche of feathers of divers and sondrie colours, peaking on top of their heades, not unlike (I dare not saie) cockes combes, but as sternes of pride and ensignes of vanity. And yet, notwithstanding these fluttering sailes and feathered flagges of defiance to virtue (for so they be) are so advanced in Ailgna (England) that every child hath them in his hat or cap ; many get good living by dying and selling of them, and a few prove themselves more than fooles by wearyng of them. These fea- thers argue the lightnesse of their fond imaginations, and plainely convince them ofinstabilitie of folly, for sure I am, handsome they cannot be, which I thinke none will weare but such as be like themselves." Stubbes : T7ie Ana- tomie of Abuses, 1585. " But he doth seriously bethinke him whether Of the gul'd people he bee more esteem'd For his long cloake or for his great blacke feather." Sir John Davis (1570-1626) : Epigrams. " Besides, this muse of mine, and the blacke feather, Grew both together in estimation, And both, growne stale, were cast away together. " Id. : lb. " Who's yond marching hither ? Some brave Low-country captain, with his feather And high-crown'd hat." The Mastive; or, Young Wlielpe of the Old Dogge, Epigrams and Satyrs, circa 1600. 11 No fool but has his feather." Marston : Malcontent, 1604. " Appoint the feather-maker not to fayle To plume my head with his best estridge tail." Rowland : Spy-Knaves. 11 A whoreson upstart, apocryphal captain, Whom not a Puritan in Blackfriars will trust So much as for a feather." Ben Jonson : Alchymist, 1610. 11 Now there was nothing left for me, that I could presently think of but a feather --maker of Blackfriars, and in that shape I told them surely I must come in, let it be opened unto me ; but they all made as light of me as of my feather, and wondered how I could be a puritan, being of so vain a vocation." Id. : Masque of Love liestored. " Or a feather-maker in the Friers, that are of the faction of faith." Id. : Bartholomew Fair, 1614. " What feather is't you'd have, sir? These are most worn and most in fashion Amongst the beaver-gallants." Middleton : The lioaring Girl, 1611. 14 All the new gowns i' th' parish will not please her, If she be high-bred, (for there's the sport she aims at), Nor all the feathers in the Fryars." Beaumont and Fletciikh : Monsieur Thomas, 1639. FELT. Woollen cloth united without weaving. (Fr. feutre, Gcr. (Uz.) Chaucer u&u* fit rid in the sense of entangled, and /'etrtred once denoted a stuffing ot felt. In Heywood's Four P\* we are told that the devil on a high holyday is " feutred in fashion abominable." The term FEL (125 ) EEL felt appears to have signified at a very early period a material formed of wool not woven, but compacted together, suitable even for a garment of defence, so that the gambeson is sometimes termed feltrum. Way. Felt was once synonymous with Pelt, of which it is, obviously, a varied orthography, arising from a difference in pronunciation ; but the word now denominates a sort of artificial skin in place of a real one. To- Felt or to Feltre is to form a matted tissue of wool or other short hair in which the several fibres are so interlaced by their curls, and aa closely united to one another by the almost imperceptible notches of their scaly coats as to form a consistence like that of thick cloth. The term Felting is chiefly employed in the manufacture of hats, but the operation of thickening woollen cloth, by means of the Fulling mill, depends on the same principle. Booth : Anylytical English Dictionary. All accounts of the discovery of the principle of felting are traditional, thus proving the extreme antiquity of felted materials. By one it is ascribed to Oriental shepherds ; another attributes it to an early English monarch, who, putting some wool into his boots to keep his feet warm, found that the combined heat, pressure, and moisture had produced a new fabric. "According to some writers, a monk on a pilgrimage, having used some carded wool in his sandals to protect his feet, found that the fibres, by long friction between the foot and the sandal, had matted together so as to produce a firm texture resembling cloth. From this hint the manufacture is said to have originated. An old hatter informed the writer that in his youth an annual festival was held on St. Clement's Day (23rd November) in honour of this saint, who was the reputed inventor of felt ; and that in Ireland, and other Roman Catholic countries, the hatters still hold their festival on that day." (To^ilinson : Useful Arts and Manufactures.) Again, it is con- sidered that as wool will sometimes, though rarely, felt upon the back of the living animal, that this may have led to the natural process being observed and imitated. There is, in any case, no doubt as to the antiquity of the process. It was known among the Greeks ; Pliny mentions that the Gauls of his day made a kind of felt which was so firm and strong that it would resist the blow of a sword, more particularly when vinegar was employed during manufacture. Saxon writers continually mention the fellen Justs — hats of felt — then used by their people. "The Tartars had cloaks and tent coverings impervious to rain made of it. The Turco- mans from time immemorial have covered their tents with black or white felt ; and hence it is suggested that some of the wanderers among the Crusaders might have brought the art from Asia to Europe." (Tomlinson.) The manufacture of hats of felt is said to have been brought to England by Spaniards and Dutchmen in the reign of Henry VIII. In 1552 we find the making of felt hats, thrummed hats, coverlets, and dornecks given over by law to the exclusive use and benefit of Norwich and the corporate and market towns of Norfolk. From this time the wearing of felt hats seems to have been increasingly popular, so that the cappers or knit-capmakers procured the passing of a law which prohibited any foreign materials being made up into hats. Finding that this remained inoperative, they obtained in 1571 another protective enactment, which has already been quoted. (See Cap ; City Flat.) About this time the felt makers or hat makers are first men- PER ( 126 ) FIB tioned, appearing as a branch of the Company of Haberdashers.* They applied for a separate charter in 1576, but owing to the opposition of the parent company were unable to obtain it until 1604, when they were incorporated by James I. The manufacture of felted materials has of late years considerably improved since the microscope, in the hands M. Monge, an eminent Frenchman, revealed the philosophy of the process, and thus indicated how alteration for the better might be effected. An attempt has even been made to produce cloths suitable for wearing apparel by the same method, but although perfect imitations of tine cloths were produced, they proved to lack lasting qualities. All hair is not capable of being felted ; the felting furs being confined to a few animals only, and again in them to the under-coat of fine filaments, the long outer hairs having to be first removed by careful shearing or other means. The felting capability of hair depends on its surface being covered with serratures, or notches, which are made to interlace and combine in a solid fabric. "The first step towards making felt is to mix, in the proper proportions, the different kinds of fabrics intended to form the stuff, and then, by the vibratory strokes of the bowstring, to toss them up in the air, and to cause them to fall as regularly as possible on the table, opened, spread, and scattered. The workman covers this layer of loose flocks with a piece of thick blanket cloth, slightly stiffened and moistened. He presses it with his hands, moving the hairs backward and forward in all directions. Thus the different fibres get interlaced, by their ends pursuing ever-tortuous paths ; their vermicular motion being always, however, root foremost. As the matting gets denser, the hand-pressure should be increased, in order to overcome the increasing resistance to the decussation. A first thin sheet of soft spongy felt being thus formed, a second is condensed upon it in like manner, and then a third, till the requisite strength and thickness be obtained. These different pieces are successively brought together, disposed in a way suitable to the wished-for article, and united by continued dexterous pressure." Ure. FERRET. A kind of narrow riband. Johnson. Spun silk ; a riband woven from it. It. florelto, Ft. fleurei, coarse ferret silk. WedCxWOOD. Florett, the outer envelope of silk-cod ; flirt or flurt- silk, ferret-silk, feiret. Cotgrave. Now a stout tape most commonly sold of cotton, but also made of silk, and then known as Italian ferret. The term is found in use in 17th century records. " Laces used with taps, commonly called • poynts ' (the ' ferrets ' of Anne of Austria) for fastening the dresses as -well as for ornament, previous to the •introduction of pins." History of Lace. FIBRE. One of the small threads composing the parts of animals or vegetables ; any fine thread or thread-like substance. (L. Jibra, a thread, connected with h.Jilum, a thread.) Donald. The fibres used in commerce are divided into three classes — mineral, animal, and vegetable. In the first asbestus is the only representative ; in the second the principal arc silk, wool, alpaca, and mohair. The third * Habercl bnnerly dealt in hats. HabeadaAersofhatB, snehasChjiB- tophex Sly describes himself in the Spectator, are constantly mentioned in writings 01 the 17th century. FIG ( 127 ) FLA class is obviously the most extensive, comprising cotton, flax, hemp, and jute. These again are subdivided into seed, bark, stalk, and leaf fibres. It is remarkable that although 360 species of plants have been catalogued as fit for spinning, weaving, or cordage, that the consumption of the world is practically limited to four varieties. "From time to time numerous grasses, fibrous barks, and other substances of a similar character have been introduced into commerce ; a few of these only have been found available for manufacture. The defect of all these unsuccessful fibres is, as regards their U3e in weaving, that they break at the knot, and in all weaving processes the fibres require frequent joining." Ure : Dictionary. FIGURED. "In the manufactures a figured camlet, stuff, tabby, &c, is that whereon there are divers designs of flowers, figures, branches, &c, impressed by means of hot irons." E. Chambers : Cyclopcedia, 1741. FIGURETTO. A stuff mentioned in the Booh of Rates of Charles II, and there shown, a3 might be expected, as a costly fabric. Under "Rates Inwards "it is shown at 8s. 4d. the yard, and under ' ' Rate3 Outwards " as : /-with Silk or Copper, •• Figurettoes < narrow, the piece, 15s. ; Cbroad, the piece, £1 10s." FINGROMS. A coarse kind of serge principally made at Stirling. De Foe : Compleat English Tradesman. FISHER (fur). These skins are larger than sables, and the fur is longer and fuller. About 11,000 of these skins are annually brought from America. The tail, which is long, round, and gradually tapering to a point, was formerly used as the common ornament to a national cap worn by the Jew merchants of Poland. FITCH, or Polecat (fur). Produced throughout Europe and in our own country. This animal has a soft black fur, with a rich yellow ground. The natural smell of the fur is unpleasant and difficult to overcome. FLANNEL. A term of doubtful etymology. Skinner suggests its derivation from lanula, a diminutive of lana, wool ; others suggest an origin inLlanelly, the Welsh town. It is, however, jaow generally attri- buted to gwlanen, the present Welsh name for the material, which denotes simply woollen. In the Middle Ages the stuff was known as rtanella SLn&jlannen. (Ger., Sw. flannel, Du., Da., Russ.j^ane?, Fr.flanelle, It. flanella.) Wales appears to have been the home of flannels, and the stuff has long been the only textile product of the principality, while it has been of so much importance there that fairs have been commonly held solely for the vending of flannels.* The estimation in which * The reference to "Walshe Cottonnes," which is found in the 5 and 6 Edward VI. (1551-2) undoubtedly refers to a woollen material (see Cotton), and therefore in all probability to flannel. The passage runs, " and that all and everie Walshe Cottonne and Cottonnes shalbe made and 'wroughte redye to be soulde for a hole pece, shall not be stretched on the lentor nor otherwise above a nayle of a yarde in bredeth, and shalbe in length FLA ( 12S ) FLA Welsh flannels are still held is attributed to the fact that hand labour is much employed in their production. Flannels are also produced in large quantities in and about Rochdale, and to a limited degree in Ireland. In the Book of Bates Is. 8d. per yard is fixed for imports, and 4d. per yard for exports. This is not the earliest mention of the stuff, for in 1503 there was paid " to Robert Langston for iiij yerdes of flannell for my Lady Kateryn, the Kinges daughtere," at " xij d the yerd." Between Michaelmas, 166S, and Michaelmas, 1669, 400 yards of flannel were exported from London to France at the same price ; and in 1633 four yeardes of flannell cost iiij s viij d . Flannels are made of woollen yarn, slightly twisted in the spinning, and of open texture, the object in view being to have the cloth soft and spongy, without regard to strength. Such as have the pile raised on one side (which is done by teasels or by cards, and called Perching) are termed Raised Flannels ; when both sides are so covered they are Double-raised Flannels. There are also Milled and Double-milled Flan- nels ; and all the sorts are occasionally dyed, though more usually sold white. Flannels are bleached by the steam of burning sulphur, in order to improve their whiteness . FLAX. The fibres of a plant easily plaited, made into thread and woven. (A.S.fleax, Ger. Jlachs, &kva. to jlecten, to plait, and Gr. pleko, to plait, to weave.) Doxald. Fr. I'm, It., Sp. lino, Port, linho, Ger. jlachs, Du. vlas, Da. hbr, Sw. I'm, Russ. leonn. Yeats. Flax has been cultivated from time immemorial for its valuable fibres : ' ' the flax was boiled " when the plague of hail was sent upon the Egyptians. It is also very widely raised, the plant thriving not only in temperate but also in tropical regions. As many as twenty-five varieties are known, and all are of easy cultivation, but when successful are esteemed very exhaustive of the soil. Naturally the plant has been used for purposes of revenue, and its culture interfered with by legisla- tion. In the 24th year of Henry VIIL it was enacted that for every sixty acres of land fit for tillage one rood should be sown with hemp or flax seed, which law was by 5 Eliz. c . v. , made permissive at the Queen's pleasure, "for the better provision of nets for help and furtherance of fishing, and for eschewing of idleness."* In the following century the raising of flax in Ireland was restrained, with a view of aiding the wool trade in England, and every sort of hindrance placed upon its cultiva- tion and manufacture. "The Earl of Strafford, Charles I. 's luckless supporter, spent £30,000 of his own money in employing Flemish labourers to teach the Irish how to produce and manufacture linen fibre thirtye-two goades (ells) in the water at the most, and in the bredeth thre quarters of a yarde at the water at the leest, and beinge so fullye wrought everie hole pece thereof shall waye fortye-sixe pounde at the lest, and everie half pece of Walshe Cottonne being full wrought as ye aforesaide shall conteyne in lengthe, weight, and bredeth after tbe same rate." The same use of the word Cottons for woollen goods appears in the Booh of Rates contemporaneously with the proper term flannel : " Cottons, Northern, Manchester, Taunton, and Welche Cottons. Cottons, call'd Welche plains." * The 43rd of Elizabeth (1601) empowered overseers of the poor to buy n convenient stock of flax and other materials "to set the poor on work." TLE ( 129 ) FLO and stuffs, and in erecting factories ; but that benevolent effort was made one of the grounds of his impeachment : ' He had obstructed the industry of the country,' said his enemies, 'by introducing new and un- known processes into the manufacture of flax.'" {Romance of Trade.) This policy has been completely reversed in recent times. An annual grant of £9,250 was paid in the early part of the present century to pro- mote the growth of flax in Ireland. This was withdrawn in 1828, at which time the import duty was lowered to the nominal rate of Id. per cwt., after having undergone successive reductions in the three previous years of Id. per cwt. in each year. Thus in 1825 it paid a general rate, whether dressed or undressed, of 4d. per cwt. Before that time it had been charged 5d. per cwt. undressed, and £10 14s. 6d. per cwt. dressed. After the grant from the public funds ceased in 1828, another was "subse- quently made for the same object to the ' Joint Flax Committee, ' formed in 1864, of the Royal Dublin Society and the Royal Agricultural Society of Ireland; butit was withdrawn, and the 'Joint Flax Committee 'ceased to exist in 1871. The Royal Flax Improvement Society of Ireland was established in 1841, under the patronage of Her Majesty and Prince Albert. The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland was vice-patron, and the Mar- quis of Downshire president. A staff of instructors was paid by the Government to visit various parts of the country, and give advice gra- tuitously to landowners and farmers on the best method of cultivating flax." W. T. Charley : Flax* The manufacture of flax was very late in being brought under machine power, nor was hand work wholly superseded until 1830. In Ireland, indeed, hand labour yet obtains in some neighbourhoods. Great diffi- culty was experienced in adapting machinery to the successful treat- ment of flax, so that Napoleon offered a premium of one million francs to the successful inventor who should compass the necessary require- ments. The relative importance of the trade in the three kingdoms is shown by the respective number of spindles employed, which are — Eng- land, 191,000; Scotland, 265,000; and Ireland, 809,000. See Linen. FLEECE. Literally, that which is ivoven; the coat of wool shorn from a sheep at one time. (A.-S. flys, Dutch vlies, L. vellus, from root of ■flax. ) Donald. FLORAMEDAS. Mentioned in Charles L's Charter to the City, 1641. Probably a flowered or figured stuff. FLORENTINE. A silk stuff, chiefly used for men's waistcoats ; it is made striped, figured, and plain ; the last being a twilled fabric. Two other stuffs are known under this name ; one composed of worsted, used for common waistcoats, women's shoes, and other articles ; the other, made of cotton, resembling jean, and generally striped, is used for making trousers. Waterston : Cyclopaedia of Commerce. FLOSS-SILK. (Fr. filoselle, bourre de sole.) The ravelled silk broken off in winding the cocoons. It is afterwards carded and spun into a coarse soft yarn or thread, and used in the manufacture of shawls, stockings, or any other articles where a commoner description of silk British Manufacturing Industrie*, FLO ( 130 ) FLO may be employed. " Fillozel or Paris silk " is shown in the Booh of Bates, and is significantly valued at 15s. the pound, when other descrip- tions range from £1 to £4 for a like quantity. A stuff called Fillozella was also made at that period. FLOUNCE. From the Fr. fronds, a plait, that possibly derived from L. frontiare, to wrinkle the brow — L. frons, frontis, the brow. Flounces were much worn in the reign of William III. : even men flounced their coats. Among the anachronisms of art, not the least amusing is that Albert Diirer represented Adam and Eve being expelled from Paradise by an angel in a flounced petticoat. FLOWERS, Artificial. It is usual to state that the making of arti- ficial flowers arose in Italy in the beginning of the 18th century. The modern trade certainly had such an origin, but as a matter of fact arti- ficial flowers date very much farther back. The Egyptians made them of thin plates of horn variously stained, and the Romans also were very skilful in imitating natural blooms in wax. Leaves plated with gold or silver, or made from plates of those metals, were also known to both these nations. The first artificial flowers of modern manufacture were made from slips of ribbons mounted on wire stems, but they were very unskilful and unsuccessful in resembling nature. Afterwards feathers were used with much more fidelity of treatment. This may have been suggested by the knowledge that the natives of South America have from a very remote period used the feathers of humming birds and other tropical birds in making flowers. The early discoverers of that region speak of the skill of the savages in this particular, and in this they have the advantage of a wide variety as well as greater brilliancy and permanence of colour. Dyed feathers when used in flower making are, by reason of the exposure to the sun's rays, to which they are necessarily subjected, apt to fade. But even the most successful feather flowers would appear tawdry and unreal by the side of the beau- tiful productions of the present day, when this branch of industry may well be believed to have reached a point beyond which further progress is impossible. The most diverse materials have been employed in their fabrication. The Chinese are exceptionally skilled in making flowers from rice paper, slices cut from the pith of a plant of the Aralia family ; and the manufacture is carried on in the open street in Pekin. ' ' Stretch- ing along the narrow street for more than half a mile is a grand expo- sition of pith, paper, and silk flowers. Foreigners stand fascinated before the stands, watching the skill of the flower makers. Each one is provided with an assortment of pincers, some wire, a pot of glue, knives, and with pith-paper of many hues. In a short time, while his deft fingers move with bewildering rapidity, he will counterfeit the dahlia, aster, rose, or whatever real flower lies before him for a model. His skill in cutting leaf, calyx, and petal is equalled only by his mar- vellous eye for delicate differences of tint. Here the pedlar gets his supplies for the day. It is astonishing to see how fond the people are of these beautiful counterfeits of Nature. The Chinese women wear no bonnets or hats, but do their hair up in elaborate fashion and wear flowers instead. In some parts of the kingdom yon may know if a woman be maid, widow, or matron by the colour of the flowers she wears in her hair." FLY ( 131 ) FOX Among the other materials now or at previous times used in making flowers are thin sheets of whalebone, shells, hair, glass, blown and spun, silk cocoons, muslin, taffeta, velvet, satin, mother-o'-pearl, beads, coffee, chocolate, soap, marble, wood, brass, precious stones, wings of insects, porcelain, and common earthenware. At one time flowers of porcelain, scented with perfumes to imitate the natural model, were very much worn. Many of these materials have only been used for the sake of novelty, and for the purpose of being shown in the exhibition of 1S51, when flowers were on view variously made in France, Austria, Portugal, Hamburg, Sweden, Madeira, Mexico, the Channel Islands, and the British Colonies. " Be her shining locks confined In a three-fold braid behind ; Let an artificial flower, Set the frisure off before." Advice to a Painter, 1755. FLY-SHUTTLE. An important improvement in the cotton manu- facture, introduced when that trade was in its infancy by John Kay, a working loom maker, then resident in Colchester, but a native of Bury. The name was given to it on account of its moving much more easily and speedily than the old shuttle, and enabling the weaver to get through his work much more rapidly. Under a mistaken idea that in- creased facility of production implied restriction of labour, the weavers violently opposed the introduction of Kay's improvement, and in 1753, twenty years after it was invented, they mobbed his house and nearly killed him. " I have a great many more inventions than what I have given in," he wrote, with a pathos not lessened by the clumsy phrasing that certainly betrayed his lack of education, in 1764, a few years before he died, an unknown pauper, in France; " and the reason I have not put them forward is the bad treatment that I had from woollen and cotton factories in England twenty years ago ; and then I applied to Parliament, and they would not assist me in my affairs, which obliged me to go abroad to get money to pay my debts and support my family." (Romance of Trade.) FOLD. Tiie doubling of any flexible substance ; a part laid over on another: that which enfolds. (A.-S. fald—feajplan, to fold; Scot. fauld, Ger. falte, akin to L. -plex, in duplex, double ; Gr. -ploos, in diploos, double.) Donald : Chambers's Etymological Dictionary. FOULARD. According to "Waterston "a kind of gauze riband now made in France," but at the present time denoting a thin piece-silk generally printed in colours on black or white grounds. FOX. Literally, the hairy animal. (A.-S., Ger. fuchs, probably allied to Icelandic fax ; A.-S./eacc, hair.) Of this fur there are several varieties, the red, cross, arctic, sooty or blue, and black or silver fox. The latter is by far the most valuable. 4 ' An unusually fine skin of one of these animals has been sold in Lon- don for £100. The imperial pelisse of the Emperor of Russia, made of black necks of the silver fox (exhibited at Hyde Park in 1S51), was value* at £3,500." k 2 FBI ( 132 ) FBI " 'Twas never merry world since, of two usuries, the merriest was put down, and the worser allowed by law a furred gown to keep him warm, and furred with fox and lambskins, too, to signify that craft, being richer than innocency stands for the facing.*' Measure for Measure. FRIEZE. Supposed by etymologists to be derived from its being a napped cloth (Welsh ffiris, nap of cloth : Old E. and Ir. /rise, ¥r.Jriacr, to curl.) In this sense Guicciardini, in his Description of the Netherlands, first published in 1560, says that the inhabitants of that country were famous for cloth a /riser, napped cloth. At the same time the invention of the stuff is ascribed to the Netherlander by the same historian, and it is quite possible that the name may come from the material having originally been of Friesland manufacture. Later the name was applied to a linen, for in 1641 we find " Linen of Freeze" mentioned, and in 1671, under the head of Linen, "Freeze Cloth." It appears to have been very early a distinctive Irish product. In 1376 (50 Edw. III. c. S) it was enacted, " That no subsidy nor aulnage duty should be paid on cloths called frize-ware, which be made in England or in Ireland of Irish wool, because those cloths did not contain the length or breadth ordained by the statute ;" and similar exemptions were granted by Acts of the 2nd and 25th years of the same reign. In 1399 frieze of Coventry is mentioned. In 1502 M a yard of freese " is charged 6d., and in Novem- ber, 1530, there is an entry in the Privy Purse Expenses of Henry VIII. of a payment to John Scot of 20s. -Id. for "ij cots of ffreze, and for ij doubeletts of frustyan, and for making and lyning of the same for Henry Elys, the fawconer." From the well-known lines written on the marriage of Charles Brandon (Duke of Suffolk) with the Queen Dowager of France, sister of Henry VIII. : " To Mary: Cloth of gold, do not despise To match thy self to cloth of frise. To Charles : Cloth of frise, be not too bold, Though thou art match to cloth of gold." We might presume that frieze rarely formed the dress of persons of rank ; but Jamieson, in voce, quotes from an inventory of 1539 : " Ane goone of freis claith of gold." In the following century frieze was more generally adopted. Fuller speaks of it as a coarse kind of cloth manufactured in Wales, "than which none warmer to be worn in winter, and the finest sort thereof very fashionable and gentile. Prince Henry had a friese sute out of it, ecc."' He adds, " It will daily grow more into use, especially since the gentry of the land, being generally much impoverished, abate much of their gallantry." (Fcllek : Worthies.) An Act of 1551 also makes mention of frieze as a Welsh manufacture, and specifies the counties which were particularly noted for its making. • And that all Walshe Frices whiche after the feast aforesaide shalbe made and wrought within the Shires of Cardigan, Carmarden, and Pembroke, or anye of them, or elsewhere of like makinge, reddye to bo soulde for a whole pece, shall conteyne in lengthe at the water thirtie varde at the most, yarde and ynche of the rule, and in bre.lithe thre quarters of a yarde, and being so fullie wrought shalle waye ev'ye FRI ( 133 ) FRI hole pece fourtye eight pounde at the lest, and everie halfe pece of Welshe Frices beinge full wrought, as aforesaide, shall conteyne in lengthe, bredith, and weight after the same rate." In 1618 Lord William Howard paid 15s. for four and a half yards of ' ' indico f ryce j" and that frieze was made in finer qualities than we usually associate with the material must surely be evident from men's night-gowns having been made from it. Proof of this we find in the will of Ralph Cleasby, 1562, wherein is bequeathed " one night gowne of frees, furred with whyte lambe," the garment being valued at 16d. " Lastly came Winter cloathed all in frize." Spenser : Faerie Queene. " But, indeed, my invention comes from my pate as bird-lime does fromfrize: it plucks out brains and all." Othello. FRILL. A ruffle. To ruffle, to tremble, to shiver with cold ; as the hawk frills, i.e., trembles with cold. Bailey. (Fr. frllleux, chilly ; old Fr. friller, to shiver ; L. frigidulus, somewhat cold — frigU dus.) Donald. FRINGE. An ornamented border of hanging threads or plaited work, originally probably of the better construction. The word may be accounted for in several ways, all leading to the fundamental notion of a wrinkled structure, expressed by the figure of a vibrating sound, &c. Wedgwood. Ornamental appendages added to dress or furniture. Johnson. Frange, fringed ; also wrimpled, snipt, or jagged on the edges. Cotgrave. Loose threads forming a border. (F. frange, Prov. fremna, Walachian frimbie, Jimbrie, L. fimbria, threads, fibres, akin to fibra, a fibre). Donald. Much worn by ecclesiastics from a very early period, but not adopted in civil costume until the 15th century, after which time they are fre- quently mentioned. It is impossible to assign a date to the introduction of the manufacture here. By the fact of "Fringes of silk and of thred" being prohibited by an Act of Parliament passed early in the reign of Edward IV. to be imported, we may assume that the article was then made in this country. Planche says that at this time fringe making had become a craft. The Wardrobe Expenses of Edward IV., 1480, contain entries relative to fringes. "Fringe of gold of Venys (Venice) at vj* the ounce. Fringe of silk, yelowe, grene, rede, white, and blue at xviij 8 viij* the lb., and xviij ,l the ounce." In the 16th century England is said to export "vast quantities" of fringes to Antwerp, then the commercial emporium of the world. In Hall's description of a Court Masque in the reign of Henry VIII. ladies are reported to have been attired in garments like tabards ' ' fringed gold." In the reign of Elizabeth we hear of their wearing "fringed and embroidered petticoats." (Warner's Albion's England.) Fringes have frequently been used in the ornamentation of gloves and waistcoats. " And all the skirt about Was hemd with golden fringe." Spenser: Faerie Queene. "All manner of works of Venice gold and silver, damask gold and silver, and of silk, as passemain, fringe-ribband, and such other work." Strype : Memo- rials, Ed. VI., a.d. 1550. FRI ( 134 ) FUL "Next winter a player, hired for the purpose, by the Corporation of fringe makers, acted his part in a new comedy all covered with silver fringe, and according to the laudable custom gave rise to that fashion." Swift : Tale of a Tub. FRISADO. A material of which very little is known, and of which we can only gain knowledge by inference. A manuscript in the British Museum, of date 1592, enumerates " Frisadoes of Pennystones wrought and frised, two goeth for a cloth, and being unwrought, four to a cloth, payeth custom . . £0 6 8 Frisadoes made of "Worseters, is taken for a long cloth, which is a cloth and eight yards, payeth custom . . . . . . ..OS 10A Frisadoes of Hastings making. None is entered by that name." We may judge that it was a fine stuff at this period, for in an inventory of the stock of James Backhouse, of Kirbye-in-Lonsdaile, taken in 1578 ' ; redd friseadow ' : is priced at 6s. 6d. a yard, then a very high price, and " Turkye culler" appears at 4s. the yard. A commoner quality, also red, is shown at 2s. the yard. In the Book of Rates of the following century '•' Frizado," the piece containing twenty-four yards, is valued at £1 8s. FROCK. A gown, particularly when worn by monks. The word is given as literally meaning a flock of -wool, from the Low Latin frocus — L. foccus, a flock of wool ; but the French froc, having the same root, and denoting a monk's cowl, is most probably the only derivative of the term. " And her well-plighted (well-plaited) frock which she did won To tucke about her short when she did ride She low let fall." Spenser : Faerie Qucenc, 1590. FRONT. From Fr. front, of Latin frons, the forehead or upper part of the face, a frill surrounding the face. Some items relating to this article have been already quoted from the Privy Purse Expenses of Elizabeth of York. (See Bonnet.) Some others are here taken from the Privy Purse Exjwises of Princess (afterwards Queen) Mart/, the date of account being 1536. " Item, payed for vj Bonettes bought of my Lady Meyres (mayoress) of London for New Yers Gyfts, vj u . Item, payed to her for ij Frontlettes, x\ Item, payed for iiij elles of hollande cloth, viij*. Item, payed for a Bonnet and a Frountlett, and the same given to my La'lymaistress xxviij*. Item, payed viij Bonettes, viij 1 *. Item, payed for viij Frountlettes, viij, iiij^." These entries show the frontlets to have been an integral part of bonnets and proportionately expensive. Illustrations of the period show them generally to have been in many respects similar to those now worn, but in some instances they stand erect around the face, with the wires composing them brought to a point above the head. PULL. To press cloth in a mill, to scour or thicken in a mill. (A.-S. fallian, to whiten, as a fuller; Fr. fouler, to tread, to full, or thicken PUL ( 135 ) FUR cloth; Dutch vollen ; Low L. fullare, from L. /alio, a cloth fuller.) Donald : Chambers's Etymological Dictionary. The old method of fulling cloth was to tread it with the feet ; hence come our surnames of Fuller, Walker, and Tucker, fullers being known as walkers or tuckers, from walking on or kneading the cloth when under treatment. A com- plaint was made to Edward IV. that hats, caps, &c. , hitherto made in the wonted manner with hands and feet {mayns et pees) were now made in an inferior manner by the use of mills, i.e., tucking mills. The use of such mills was forbidden in 1482. The object of fulling is to work the fibres so that the surface may not show the naked transverse threads, but form a felted mass, fulling being really only a kindred process to felting. Manual labour is, of course, superseded, and even the old fulling or tucking mills which provoked complaint in the days of Edward IV. have long since been replaced by vastly-improved machinery. FULLERS' EARTH. (Ger. walkererde, Du. voldarde, Fr. terre a foulon, It. terra da purgatori, Sp. tierra de batan, Rus. schifernaia, Lat. terra fullonum.) A species of clay, of a greenish white, greenish grey, olive and oil green, and sometimes spotted colour. It is usually opaque, very soft, and feels greasy. It is used by fullers to take grease out of cloth before they apply the soap. The best is found in Bucking- hamshire and Surrey. "When good, it has a greenish white or greenish grey colour, falls into powder in water, appears to melt on the tongue like butter, communicates a milky hue to water, and deposits very little sand when mixed with boiling water. The remarkable detersive property on woollen cloth depends on the alumina, which should be at least one fifth of the whole, but not much more than one fourth, lest it become too tenacious. {Thomson's Chemistry ; Jameson's Mineralogy.) With the idea of frustrating foreign competition, the exportation of fullers' earth, to which most of the excellence of our cloth was attributed, was stringently prohibited ; 3s. for every pound seized being at one time exacted and the stuff forfeited : but the attempt to carry it beyond the realm was afterwards held to be felony, and punishable with death. It was so plentifully found at Woburn, in Bedfordshire, that it was once familiarly known as Woburn earth, "Here they found fuller's earth, a precious treasure, whereof England hath better than all Christendom besides. And now was the English wool improved to the highest profit, passing through so many hands, every one having a fleece of the fleece, — sorters, combers, carders, spinners, weavers, fullers, dyers, pressers, packers ; and these manufactures have been heightened to the highest degree of perfection." Fuller : Church History. FUR. Literally, lining. (Sp. forro, lining ; It. fodero, sheath, lining ; Fr. fourrure, Ger. pelz.) The term should not be used indiscriminately for any kind of skin, but more correctly applies only to the short fine hair next to the skin of certain animals, as distinct from the hair, which forms the outer covering, and is longer and coarser. In the raw state furs are called pelts or peltry (L. pellis, a skin or hide). Furs naturally formed the first clothing of man. They were known to the .JRomans, and from that time to the present day have had a high com- mercial value, and have frequently been used to mark social distinctions. FUR ( 136 ) FUR skins Beaver With the Eomans began the practice of importing and using costly skins. They obtained skins of the ermine (the Pontic mouse) from Persia, and afterwards sables, which even thus early were deemed most valuable of all skins. Strutt says, "The furs of sables, beavers, foxes, cats, and lambs were used in England before the Conquest, to which were afterwards added those of ermines, squirrels, martens, rabbits, goats, and many other animals." The fashion of wearing furs olid not become general until the 13th century, when all classes adopted them. The practice of trimming with furs the mantles of kings and peers, and the robes of judges and municipal officers, is a relic of this once universal custom. The Booh oj Rates of Charles II. in this, as in all other particulars relating to the manufactures or commerce of that period, affords a very valuable guide to the furs then used. The list will show that the choice of skins was not then so restricted as now, probably because our ancestors were rather less squeamish as to what they wore. Armins {Ermines) the timber containing fourty skins Badger skin the piece . . . • . . . . . . . Bear ("black or red the piece .. .. .. . . v. white the piece . • . . . . . . ( skins the whole piece \ wombs the piece . . / white tawed the 100 containing five score skins ( black tawed the doz. skins Budge ' black untawed the 100 cont. five score skins {Lamb) \ Pouls the fur containing four pains f Navern the 100 legs containing five score V Bumney the 100 legs containing five score . . {untawed the timber cont. fourty skins taw'd the timber cont. fourty skins seasoned the pain Stag, the pain /skins the 100 cont. five score . . . . . . ) poults the 100 cont. five score j poults the mantle V wombs the pain or mantle . . Dockerers the timber containing fourty skins Fitches ( the timber containing fourty skins {Polecat) { the pain or mantle {the black Fox skin the ordinary skin the pain or mantle .. .. wombs pouls or pieces the pain f backs the dozen .. .. .. .. .. tails the pain or mantle . . . . . . . . with tails the piece without the tails the piece (Marten)"] raw the piece.. Poults the hundred containing five score Wombs seasoned the pain or mantle . . . . , Wombs stag the pain or mantle Cat Foyns £2 2 1 2 6 8 1 8 2 1 6 8 3 10 1 8 4 6 8 6 8 8 O 1 O 12 6 2 1 6 3 6 3 13 4 13 4 12 (J 10 1 4 15 10 13 4 12 6 3 4 4 1 1 6 8 1 6 8 15 * The fur of a little creature in Germany of the same name. Bailey. the denomination under which squirrel-skins are commercially known. Now FUR ( 137 ) riJR Grays* f untawed, the timber, containing fourty skins . . £0 8 4 (Marten) <- tawed the timber, cont. fourty skins . . . . 12 6 /black raw the skin 12 6 Jennet < kl ac k seasoned the skin 16 8 j gray raw the skin 030 \gray seasoned the skin .. .. .. ..040 Letwis flawed the timber containing fonrty skins ..086 '* t untawed the timber containing fourty skins ..060 Leopards I "^ the piece 15 ^ ( wombs the pain 500 Iiewzernes Skins the piece 2 10 (Lynx) r the timber cont. fourty skins 10 I the pain or mantle .. .. .. .. ..900 Martrons { Poults the pain or mantle . . . . . . . . 10 ( Gils the timber 12 * Tails the hundred cont. five score . . ..200 Miniver the mantle 13 4 TW^i-a $ untawed the timber 3 mmKS • • Uawed the timber 400 Moul Skins the dozen 006 Otter Skins the piece 050 Ounce skins the piece 12 6 Sables of all kinds, the timber cont. 40 skins 30 Weazle skins the dozen .. .. .. .. .. ..004 Wolfe f tawed the piece 110 Skins v. untawed the piece . • .. .. . . ..130 Wolverings the piece .. 12 6 Such of these furs as are in modern wear will be found referred to under their respective titles. The skins which at that period were exported from this country were those of the badger, beaver, cat, calf, coney (rabbit), elk, fitch, fox, jennet, kid, lamb, morkin (skins of animals found dead), otter, rabbity sheep, and squirrel. "*• " The fur that warms a monarch warmed a bear." Pope. FURBELOW. Furbeloe, plaited or ruffled, Trimming for Women's Petticoats, Scarves, &c. Bailey. Metaphorically to overlay with or- naments (Sp. farfala or falbala, Fr., It. falbala, which Duchat derives from f aid-plat). The original Italian term falbala was first followed on the introduction of this embellishment of dress in the 17th century : " 3 yards of rich silver ruff d scollop lace falbala, was bought of John Bampton, the Court Milliner in 1693, for Mary, queen of William IIL The Old Mode and the Neiv, or Country Miss with her Falbala, is the title of a play by Tom D'UrEey, and Falbala Scarfs and Gowns are men- tioned in his collection of songs called Wit and Mirth (1719-20). Planche. " When arguments too fiercely glare, You calm them with a milder air ; To break these points, you turn their force, And furbelow the plain discourse." Prior (1664-1721): Alma. * The fur of the gris or gray so much worn in the Middle Ages was that of marten. Tyrwhitt observes the word gris is used by Chaucer and others to express generally any valuable fur. Fairholt. Some have thought gris to- have been the fur of the grey squirrel. TTJS ( 138 ) FTJS " Her keys he takes ; her doors unlocks : Through wardrobe and through closet bounces ; Peeps into every chest and box ; Turns all her furbelows and flounces." Id. : The Dove. " But thou, vain man ! beguil'd by Popish shows, Doatest on ribbands, flounces, furbelows." Gay (1688-1732) : Espousals. " A furbelow of precious stones." Spectator, No. 15. " Falbalas are not confined to scarfs, but they must have furbelow' d gowns, and furbelow'd petticoats, and furbelow'd aprons, and, as I have heard, furbe- low'd smocks, too." Pleasant Art of Money -Catching, 1730. FUSTIAN. A coarse twilled cotton cloth ; metaphorically inflated language (Fr. futaine, Old Fr. fustaigne or fustane ; Sip.fustan). A term of disputed derivation. Menage derives the word from fustanum, which in the corrupt Latin writers is used in the same sense, and is supposed to be formed from fustis, on account of the tree whereon the cotton grows. Bochart derives it from Fustat, which in Arabic signifies the ancient city of Memphis, where the cotton is produced in great abundance. Another place credited with the first manufacture of this stuff is Fostat (Cairo), through which, according to Diez, the word originated. But the generally accepted root of the word is found in faste, the Spanish word signifying substance,* and the supposition is strengthened by the fact that from the 10th century until the expulsion of the Moors Spain was noted for its cotton fabrics, and principally for the production of fustain. Capmany, in his work upon the Commerce of Barcelona, says: "Among the various trades which anciently dis- tinguished Barcelona, one of the most famous and most useful was that of the cotton manufacturers, who were an incorporated company from the 13th centary, and gave name to two separate streets, cotoners veils and cotoners nous, which still preserve the memory of the ancient demarcation of their workshops. These artisans prepared and spun the cotton for the weaving of various stuffs used in those times, and principally for the manufacture of cotton sail-cloth, which was always a very considerable branch of industry in a mercantile city that for more than five hundred years was the station of the Spanish squadrons (armadas). Again, the trade known by the name of fustian manufacturers, (fustaneros), that is, weavers of cotton goods, was so ancient in Barcelona that, in the year 1255, Vegucr, on the representation of the municipal magistrate, owing to the annoyance caused by the vicinity of the dyers and embroiderers of those manufactures, ordained that no person should exercise the said trade except in the extremities and suburbs of the city." Baines. This extract shows that the early fustians were, as now, of cotton, but it is unlikely that material was used for both warp and woof, but rather that it had linen warp and woof only of cotton. Fustain is woven in the same manner as velvet, even to the shearing of its surface, and Dr. Rock thinks that this manufacture may have hinted to • Fuste,&o called because it is as tin nxbltance of cloth or silk, which they line with it. Dusdonario \\ export duty fated on them, 3d. per piece. TTJS ( 141 ) FUS would lead us to conclude that their value must have been small, as the rates of export duty at the same time on English woollens were as high as 2s. to 4s. 6d. per piece. From Guicciardini we learn that Antwerp imported from Germany ' such a quantity of fustian* as amounted to six hundred thousand crowns a year ; ' and exported to the North of Europe ' spices, drugs, saffron, sugar, salt. English and Netherland cloths and stuffs, fustians, linens, wrought silks, gold stuffs, grograms, camblets, tapestries,' &c. ; and to England, amongst other things, cottons and cotton-wool, the latter of which the mer- chants of Antwerp brought from Portugal and other countries. In enumerating the various kinds of cloth made at different towns in the Low Countries, Guic- ciardini only twice makes mention of a cotton fabric, namely, fustians, which were manufactured 'in great quantities * at Bruges and also at Ghent. This same article appears in a list of foreign goods, imported by the English Society of Merchants Adventurers, in 1601, from Holland and Germany, and it is said to be of the manufacture of Xuremburgh. Guicciardini asserts, that fus- tians were first made in Flanders : but he gives no date, so that it is difficult to judge of the probable correctness of his assertion. The fact is not probable, though the Flemings, during the Crusades, received many arts, and a great stimulus to industry, commerce, and luxury, from their intercourse with Syria, and they may in this manner have obtained the cotton manufacture. But it has been shewn that fustians were made extensively in Barcelona in the 13th •century, and that their name indicates a Spanish origin." From the Charter granted by Charles I. in 1641, we find that English fustians were then a recognized export, and the date is suggestive as corroborating that given above. The entries in the i; Paccage Table of Kates," relative to home-made fustians are these : •• English Millain, the piece, containing 2 half pieces of 15 yards the piece Old. Venetian, English make, each 15 yards .. Old." At the same time the " Scavage Table of Rates Inward*;' includes under Fustians : " Barmillions the piece, or two half pieces, containing 15 yards each half piece .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 021. Naples Fustian Tripp, or Velvet, the piece containing 15 yards 02d. But the Book of Bates again affords a much fuller and more descriptive survey of the resources of this branch of the trade. Here are shown Amsterdam, Holland, or Dutch Fustians at £3 the piece of 30 yards ; Barmilians at the same rate ; Holms and Beverneux at £S0 the bale of 45 half pieces, and £3 14s. for single pieces ; Jean fustians at £3 7s. the piece ; Millain fustians at £3 the piece ; Naples fustians at £8 the piece or 10s. the yard ; and Naples fustians, wrought, termed Sparta velvet, at £6 the half piece of seven yards and a half, or 16s. the yard ; and Osbrow or Augusta fustians at £4 10s. the piese, with Silk, at Ss. the yard, or of Weazel at £S the piece. No duty at this time was levied upon • : Fustians of English Making/' Italian fustians appear to have very early earned a large reputation - Long prior to the authorities already quoted, a sumptuary law show*, us the esteem in which it wa3 held here, for by the 3rd and 4th of Edward IV. it was forbidden to any but those who had possessions of the yearly value of forty shillings to wear "in array for his body any fustian of Napuls, scarlet cloth engrained, &c., : ' and the product of that city became so firmly established in public repute that the term became corrupted, and needed explanation. Thus Cotgrave mentions GAI ( 142 ) GAR ' Mock velvet or fustian anapes." Middleton, in the play of Anything for a Quiet Life, 1662, says : '■ One of my neighbours, in courtesy to salute me with his musket, set on fire my fustian and apes breeches." The transition is thought to have been from fustian of Naples, through fustian a Xaples to " fustian anapes." Velveteen or velveret are commonly included among fustians, as their manner of manufacture justifies. Corduroy and thickest are also coarser varieties of fustian. GAITER. A cloth covering for the ankle and upper portion of the foot. (Fr. gutire, guestre.) GALLOON, Gallon (galon Fr., q. d. Gallica Fimbria, a French lace). A kind of silk or ferret ribbon. Bailey. Also given from gala, a festive occasion, as ribbons worn at such times. In commerce, a thick narrow kind of ferret, ribband, or lace, used to edge or border clothes. The term is ordinarily understood of that made of woollen ; sometimes, that of thread ; or even gold or silver. E. Chambers : Cyclopaedia, 1741. " A jacket edged with blue galloon '* characterizes a country girl in D'Urfey's Wit and Mirth. ' : In a word, lace and ribbons, silver and gold galloons, with the like glitter- ing gew-gaws, are so many lures to women of weak minds or low educations, und when artificially displayed, are able to fetch down the most airy coquette from the wildest of her nights and rambles." Spectator, No. 15. GARMENT. That which furnishes ; any article of clothing, as a coat or gown. (Fr. garniment — garner, to furnish.) Donald. GARTER. A band or ribbon to tie up stockings, from the Welsh gar, the shank, or Fr. gartier, jarretih'es—j arret, the hough of the leg. It is not known when they were first worn ; necessity in this case must have been the mother of invention, and garters are probably of the same date as the hose they kept up. They have of course varied in rich- ness, being particularly fine when displayed. "A garter of rudde* richely wroght with silk and gold," cost 18s. in 1480, and in the time of James I. gentlemen used small silk sashes for garters. The ends of these were edged with rich point lace, and they were tied in large bows below the knee. The inventory of Thomas Pasmore, of Richmond, taken in 1577, contains "eight yards of gartering," 10d., and that of James Backhouse, of Kirbye-in-Lonsdaile, taken in the following year, shows in stock " iiij payre of garters," 2s. ; vj pay re of garters," lSd. ; M Franshe garters," at 20d. per pare, and other garters at from 3s. 4d. * Garters of Ituddeur are often mentioned, but Nicolas says, " no other example of the use of the word ' rudde ' has been found excepting in Chaucer, wbx-n it is presumed to mean complexion. " His lippes red as rose, His rudde is like scarlet ingrain, tSrc." Iiimtof Sir Thopas ; and in a similar sense in the Miller's Tale. " His rode was red, his eyen as grey as goos." In these accounts rudde and ruddem evidently meant the material of which Mm guttsi were *nadc." GAR ( 143 ) GAR to 5s. 4d. the dozen pairs. A wide difference in price is shown in the Book of Rates, three pounds being laid down as the value of every dozen pairs of ' ' Garters of French silk making " under imports ; but in the Outward Rates "Garters of Worsted" are estimated as 2s. 6d. the gross, and "Gartering of Cruel" at 8s. 4d. the gross — or groce, as the orthography of the period preferred it. M A vulgar story prevails, but it is not supported by any ancient authority, that at a Court Bah, Edward's mistress, commonly supposed to be the Countess of Salisbury, dropped her garter, and the King taking it up observed some of his courtiers to smile as if they thought he had not obtained this favour merely by accident, upon which he called out, ' Honi soit qui mal y pense.' "* HriiE : History of England (Edicard III.) <: In the ende thereof (the XIX yere) they there deuysed the Order of the Gorter, and after stablyshed it as at this day is contynued." Fabyax: Chronicles (Edicard III") " Whereto should I disclose The gartering of her hose." Skeltox : Bohe of Philip Spa,rrov;. •• And the Venetian hosen, they reach beneath the knee to the gartering place of the legge, where they are tied finely with silke points or some such like, and laid on with rows of lace or gardes, as the other before." Stubbes : Avatomie of Abuses, 1583. '• He being in love, could not see to garter his hose : andyou, being in love, cannot see to put on your hose." Tv;o Gentlemen of Verona (? 1590). " With a linen stock on one leg, and a kersey boot hose on the other, gar- tered with a red and blue list." Taming oftlie Shrevi (? 1596). " Let their heads be sleekly comb'd, their blue coats brushed, and their garters of an indifferent knit." lb. " When we were maids (quoth one of them) Was no such new-found pride, Then wore they shoes of ease, now of An inch-broad-eorked high. Black kersey stockings, worsted now, Yea, silk of youthful'st die; Garters of list, but now of silk, Some edged deep with gold; With costlier toys, for coarser times, Than used perhaps of old." Warner : Albion's England, 1606. M Off, garters blue, Which signify Sir Abraham's love is true." A Woman as a Weathercock, 1612. " This comes of wearing Scarlet, gold lace, and cut works, your fine gartering, With your blowne roses." Ben Jonson : The, Devil is an Ass, 1616. * Another tradition assigns the origin of the order to Edward using his garter as a standard in one of the battles of his French campaign. Yet another, even more doubtful, attributes it to Bichard I. having caused his officers at the siege of Acre to wear leathern garters for the sake of distinction. GAU ( 144 ) GAXJ " One wore his mistress' garter, one her glove, And he a lock of his dear lady's hair, And he her colours whom he most did love ; There was not one but did some favour wear." Drayton: Battle of Agincourt, 1627. " What boots it thee To shew the rusted buckle that did tie The garter of thy greatest grandsire's knee?" Donne : Satires. 11 Diamond buckles too For garters, and as rich for shoe." Evelyn: Tyrranxis; or, The Mode, 1661. " He now and then presents a pair of garters of his own knitting to their mothers or sisters, and raises a great deal of mirth by enquiring as often as he meets them how they wear." Spectator, No. 108. " Handsome garters at your knees." Swift. " There lay three garters, half a pair of gloves, And all the trophies of his former loves." Pope. GAUNTLET. An iron glove formerly thrown as a challenge ; in modern phraseology signifying properly a long glove covering the wrist, but popularly applied only to the wrist covering. An attempt has been made to derive the term from Ghent or Gaunt, but the form of wantus or guantus, as signifying a glove, was common in the Middle Ages, and can be traced back to Anglo-Saxon times, when it was quoted fey Bede as a French term. The French equivalent is gantelet, from gant, glove ; It. guanto, Dan. vanter, Ice. vbttr. " Hence therefore, thou nice crutch. A scalie gauntlet now with joynts of steel Must glove this hand." Shakespeare : Henry IV., PL II. GAUZE. A sort of very thin silk, for hoods, neckcloths, &c. Bailey. Perhaps because first introduced from Gaza, a city of Palestine. Richardson. A name given to a woven fabric of transparent texture. Fr. gaze, cushion-canvas, the thin canvas that serves women for a ground for their cushions or purse-work. (Cotgrave.) Wedgwood. Gauzes have been occasionally made of thread, but the name has always signified a silk fabric. It is said by Strutt to be mentioned by writers of the 13th century, and in common with other delicate fabrics was prohibited to the monastic orders. The manufacture in this country was for a long time confined to Spitalfields, where it was very successfully carried on, even in the imitation of the beautiful Chinese gauzes, which were often figured with ilowers of silver or gold thread. Afterwards Paisley became the centre of a flourishing gauze manufac- ture—so flourishing that Spitalfields gave up competition. Paisley gauzes were first made of linen about 1752, and those of silk were not attempted until seven years later, when " elegant and richly ornamented silk gauzes were soon produced in such vast variety, and with such nice and curious fabrication as outdid everything of the kind that had formerly appeared." " The silk manufactures of Ireland are by no means to bo despised ; nor has the reason to despond, if they were much inferior to what they are. It did not appear probable twenty-five years ago that Paisley, in Scotland, could ever GIM ( 145 ) GIR arrive at any formidable competition with Spitalfields. At that time the former had no silk manufacture, but now she makes gauzes to the yearly value of near £400,000, and Spitalfields makes little indeed. Hence it appears that a rich country in possession of a manufacture, of skill, and of industry cannot always maintain herself against a poor country. Happily under the union of England and Scotland, the migration of the gauze manufactory from Spitalfields to Paisley is not to be lamented. Paisley affords her gauzes cheaper than any part of the world, and furnishes all Europe, and even France with them." Ob' servations on the Manufactures of Ireland, by John, Lord Sheffield, 1785. " Silken cloaths were used by the ladies, and it seems they were thin, like gauze." Arbuthxot : On Coins. " Brocades, and damasks, and tabbies, and gawses, Are by Kobert Ballantine lately brought over, "With forty things more." Swift : An Excellent New Song. " in another case we see a white, smooth, soft worm turned into a black, hard, crustaceous beetle with gauze wings." Paley : Natural Theology. GIMP (from the Fr. guipure, to whip round with silk) is a coarse lace formed by twisting threads round a coarse foundation of wire or twine. It is made in varying qualities of silk, wool, or cotton, and is now chiefly employed in upholstery, although it has at times been fashion- able for trimming wearing apparel. The term is also used in pillow- lace making, again signifying a thread thicker than ordinary, round which others are twined or woven. 11 Flowing loosely down her back, - Draw with art the graceful sacque, Ornament it well with gimping, ^ Flounces, furbelows, and crimping." Fawkes : The Odes of Anacreon, 1755. •' 'Twas thus, if man with woman we compare, The wise Athenian crost a glittering fair, Unmov'd by tongue and sights ; he walk'd the place, Through tapes, toys, tinsel, gimp, perfume, and lace." Parnell : Elegy on an Old Beauty. GIN. A contraction of Engine, the machine by which cotton- wool is cleansed from the seeds of the plant which it envelops. The saw-gin was invented in 1793 by Eli "Whitney, a gentleman of Massachusetts. GINGHAM. A cotton fabric made from yarn dyed before being woven. The name was introduced with the cloth from India, and the manufacture was first started in Glasgow, the seat of the gingham trade, in 1786. Carlisle was also at one time noted for its ginghams. GIRDLE. A band encircling the loins, from the A. -S. gyrdel. Chaucer mentions the girdle stead, that is, the waist or girding place. It was once an article in universal wear, and accordingly varied in richness with the position of the wearer. Some were simple leather bands with one end passed through a hole and fastened round the other ; some again were of great width and costly materials, lavishly over- laid with jewellery and precious stones, furnished with a costly ring for the passage of the tie, and the ends long and richly ornamented Chaucer, in the Romaunt of the Rose, describes the girdle of Riches as GIR ( 146 ) GLO having a buckle of precious stones, the " bars," or narrow stripes which separated each compartment of the ornaments, being of " Gold full fine, Upon a tissue of satin : Full heavy, great, and nothing light, To every one a besaunt white." And in the Milleres Tale he mentions a girdle at which hung " A purse of lether, Tasseled with silk, and perled with latoun." The making of girdles, which included sword belts, became a distinct craft. The Girdlers' Company was incorporated in 1499, and confirmed by Elizabeth in 1568, when the Pinners and Wire-drawers were united with them. " Talk with the girdler, or the milliner : He can inform you of a kind of men That first undid the profits of those trades, By bringing up the form of carrying Their Morglays in their hands." Beaumont and Fletcher : Honest Maris Fortune, 1613. All kinds of things were carried at the girdle — long embroidered pockets, scissors, and keys by ladies ; dagger, rosary, penner and ink- horn, knives, or books by men, according to their calling. Books were bound with the leather covers projecting at one end, and fastened round a ball which was tucked under the girdle to hold the precious volume secure. " Let your book at your girdle be tyed, Or else in your bosom that he may be spied." (Hipocrisy's advice in Lusty Juventus.) From the common custom of carrying the purse at the girdle comes the old term cutpurse, and the open surrender of the girdle became by custom a legal transfer of the effects of a bankrupt to his creditors. "'May my girdle break if I fail' was an old saying of imprecatiou against false promises, because the purse hung to it." Fairholt. lb was also similarly used as a symbol of investiture, and, in negative proof of this, it is related that the widow of Philip I., Duke of Burgundy, renounced her right of succession by putting off her girdle on her husband's tomb. " That girdle gave the vertuo of chast love, And wiuehood true, to all tbat did it beare : But whoso euer coiitrarie doth prove, Might not the same aboue ber middle weare, But it would loose, or else asunder teare." Spenser : Faerie Quecnc. GLOVE. A cover for the hand, with a sheath for each finger (A.-S. glof, Scot, loof, Ice. loofoe, palm of the hand, W. golof, to cover). Planch6, in his History of British Costume, says : " Gloves do not appear to have been worn by either sex before the 11th century. In some instances the loose sleoves of the gown supply their place by being brought over the hand ; in others the mantle is made to answer the tame purpose ; but one of the female figures copied for the heading of GLO ( 147 ) GLO this section (from the Benedictional of St. Ethelwold) has something very like a glove upon the left hand. It has a thumb, but no separate fingers, and is painted blue in the miniature, which is of the close of the 10th century ; a curious pair of mufflers, for we can scarcely call them by any other name occurs in a MS. about a century later." But if not known at this early date in the shape with which we are now familiar, they were at any rate known by name much earlier, for we find in Howell's History of the World some particulars of laws made by Ethelred relating to customs on ships and merchandize to be paid at Blynygesgate, or Billingsgate, then the only quay in London where German merchants "coming with their ships were accounted worthy of good laws, and might buy in their ships, but it is not lawfull for them to forestall the markets from the burghers of London." They were directed to pay as toll at Easter and Christmas two grey cloths and one brown one, ten pounds of pepper, two vessels of vinegar, and. Jive pair of gloves. Long prior to this period gloves (or, as they were known, chiroihecce) were in use by the Romans and Greeks, and probably even before them by the Persians. They came into general wear here among the higher classes with the Normans, as we find from the account of the Bishop of Durham's escape from the Tower during the reign of Henry I., when having "forgotten his gloves," the friction caused by sliding from his window by a rope to the ground skinned his hands to the bones. After this gloves " some short, some reaching nearly to the elbows, embordered at the tops and jewelled at the backs, if appertaining to princes or prelates, become frequent." (Planche. ) This outward display was in direct contravention of rules laid down for the guidance of priests ; for in the reign of Lduis-le-Debonnaire the Council of Aix prohibited monks from wearing any gloves but those of sheepskin, and a subsequent council held at Poictiers, finding it impossible to stop the display of luxury, confined the use of sandals, gloves, and rings to bishops. It is asserted that the first mention of gloves as a manufacture of this country may be attributed to the year 1463, when, by an Act of that date, gloves were forbidden to be imported. But Anderson quotes from Sir Robert Cotton's Records of the Tower an Act of 1378 : "That all merchants, Gascoyne and English, may freely transport into Gascony and Brest, to the King's friends, all manner of corn and other victuals ; and also leather gloves, purses, caps, and points," with other small merchandise ; and in 1382 the Pope's collector of his dues in England obtained leave of Richard II. to export from Bristol, free of duty, a large quantity of apparel and furniture, among which we find "One capellum, and one pair of gloves lined with grey ; one pair of beaver gloves." (History oj Commerce.) In 1464 arms were granted by Edward IV. to the Glovers, although they were not incorporated until 1638.* In 1532 the Privy Purse Expenses of Henry VIII. contain pay- * The charter of incorporation was ostensibly granted with a view of correct- ing certain abuses which bad crept into the craft. The preamble, after stating that a petition had been received from the glovers of the metropolis, proceeds in the following curious strain : " We have been informed that their families are about four hundred in number, and upon them depending above three thousand of our subjects, who are much decayed and impoverished by reason of the great confluence of persons of the same art, trade, or mystery into our L 2 GLO ( 148 ) GLO ments of 2s. 9odd : British Manufactures. GLO 149 GLO to most others of our own manufacture, as to rival the French, and disprove the prevailing opinion of the superiority of the latter. Independent of the quality of the kid, a good glove is distinguished, first, by its being neatly sewed ; secondly, by the thumb seam not extending too far into the palm ; and, lastly, by the colour of the exterior not having soiled the inside. Most of the lower-priced English gloves offered as 'kid,' are in reality made of lamb-skin. When what is called a kid glove feels unusually stout, it may be considered highly probable that it is only lamb-skin in imitation. It must consequently be understood that all good kid, in addition to the qualities already described, must be reasonably thin. Three-fourths of those passing under the title of French gloves are made in this country ; French kid gloves are made in this country of French or Italian skins; and it is usual to apply to these the name which properly belongs to the former. The best skins are most decidedly the French ; next, the Italian ; and lastly, those from Ireland. Limerick is a very sleazy and somewhat gritty feeling glove of the kid kind, made in Ireland ; very little in demand except in that country. Beaver, though the quality is various, forms the commonest description of leather gloves. The Woodstock is a very superior beaver, to which much attention is paid both to the shape and sewing. Doeskin is a more thick, durable, and soft leather than the Beaver or Woodstock : in its make it does not excel the latter, though it surpasses ihe former. Buckskin is the closest grained, and consequently the strongest leather of which gloves are made. Its elasticity, though trifling, is sufficient. It also bears cleaning better than any other kind. It may be had in white, drab, or buff. Sheepskin is generally white, and most usually made by con- tract for the army. Tan is of three qualities, common, drawn, and York. This is a very serviceable and cheap glove for gardening, riding, or driving. The strongest of each class is sewed peculiarly, and termed pricked seam. The quality of silk gloves is determined by weight and neatness of sewing. They may be had in white, black, French white, and colours. Thxgad gloves are made of hemp, and are neater in appearance, though much resembling those made of cotton. Neither of them, however, can be recommended, except on the score of economy. Berlin gloves were originally imported from Berlin and some parts of Switzerland, but are now manufactured by ourselves. They are cer- tainly a great improvement on the old cotton gloves." A popular description of the process employed in glove making is given in a novel by Mrs. Henry Wood, entitled Mrs. Haliburton's Troubles; but the cottage system of labour there shown has been largely, but not entirely, superseded by factory concentration. We may now study the allusions to gloves to be found in old literature, which, as showing ancient usage, and some customs still perpetuated, are particularly interesting. The quotations which follow are taken from Fairholt (Costume in England) and Nares (Glossary; Shakespeare and his contemporaries), as well as the sources usually drawn upon. Steevens, in his Notes on Shakespere, observes that it was anciently "the custom to wear gloves on the hat on three distinct occasions, viz., as the favour of a mistress, the memorial of a friend, and as a mark to be challenged by an enemy." As a mark of defiance they are perhaps best known, and in this sense they are noticed in Amis and Amiloun (15th oentury) ; 11 Yea, sayd the duke, wilt thou so? Dar'st thou into battle go ? Yea, certes, seyd he tho ; And here my glove give I thereto." GLO ( 150 ) GLO So in Shakespeare's Henry V., when the king, unknown, takes a glove as a gage from one of his soldiers : " K. Hen. Give me any gage of thine, and I will wear it in my bonnet ; then, if ever thou dar'st acknowledge it I will make it my quarrel. Williams. Here's my glove ; give me another of thine. K. Hen. There. Williams. This will I also wear in my cap ; if ever thou come to me and say, after tomorrow, This is my ylove, I will take thee a box on the ear. K. Hen. If ever I live to see it, I will challenge it. Williams. Thou durst as well be hang'd." The conclusion of the quarrel will be found in the seventh and eighth scenes of the same act, where Henry gives an account of how he gained the glove, and shows it to have been at the time a token of enmity : " Here, Fluellen; wear thou this favour for me, and stick it in thy cap : when Alencon and myself were down together, I plucked this glove from his helm : if any man challenge this he is a friend to Alenijonand an enemy to our person. If thou encounter any such apprehend him." Gloves were as frequently worn in war as the token of esteem from a lady-love. So Hall, the chronicler, in a notice of a tournament of the time of Henry VIII., says : " One part had their plumes at whyt, another hadde them at redde, and the thyrde had them of several colours. One ware on his headpiece his ladies sieve, and another bare on hys healm the glove of his dearlynge.'' And, on the other hand, Shakespeare makes Henry of Monmouth boast that " he would unto the stews, And from the commonest creature pluck a glove, And wear it as a favour ; and with that He would unhorse the lustiest challenger." Lyly, in his Woman of the Moon, 1597, says : " He that presents me with his head, Shall wear my glove in favour of the deed." And in Alexander and Campaspe, 15S4, by the same author, we have evidence that the same practice was followed in times of peace — " O Philip, wert thou alive to see this alteration, thy men turn'd to women, thy soldiers to lovers, gloves worn in velvet caps, instead of plumes in graven helmets, thou wouldst die." In Dekker's Satiromastix, 1G02, Tucca says to Sir Quintilian, "Thou shalt wear her glove in this worshipful hat like a leather brooch." The fashion subsequently became common, and was even adopted by serving meD. In King Lear Edgar, on being asked by the King, " What hast thou been ? " replies " A serving man, proud in heart and mind ; that curled my hair, wore gloves in my cap ; and in Beaumont and Fletcher's Scornful Ladie, 1616, Welford, on being offered a glove by Abigail to wear as a favour, replies, " Harke you, mistress, what hidden virtue is there in this glove, that yotk would have me weare it ? Is't good against sore eyes, or will it charm the toothache ? Or are these red tops, being stcept in white wine soluble, will't kill GLO ( 151 ) GLO the itch? Or has it so concealed a providence to keepe my hand from bands ? If it have none of these, and prove no more hut a bare glove of half e- a-crowne a pair, 'twill be but half a courtesy." White gloves appear to have been common to weddings from a very- remote period. Dekker, in the Untrussing of the Humorous Poet, men- tions * ■ the innocent white wedding gloves ; " and in Ben Jonson's Silent Woman Lady Haughty says to Morose : " We see no ensigns of a wedding here, No character of a bridale ; Where be our scarves and gloves ? " Another custom connected with gloves is noticed by Gay in his Pastoral : " Cicely, brisk maid, steps forth before the rout, And kissed with smacking lip the snoaring lout ; For custom says, whoe'er this venture proves, For such a kiss demands a pair of gloves." The mention of perfumed gloves is frequently met with. It is usual to attribute their introduction, together with perfumes, into this country to Edward Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford, who presented Elizabeth with a "payre of perfumed gloves, trimmed onlie with foure tuftes of roses of culler'd silke. The queene took such pleasure in those gloves, that she was pictured with those gloves upon her hands." (Stow.) But this was not their first appearance in this country, for in the Book of Quarterly Payments of Henry VIII. it is recorded that on New Year's Day, in the 32nd year of his reign, Arcangell Arcan, Gunner, made the king a present of a pair of perfumed gloves, and in reward for his generosity received the sum of xxd. It is possible that gloves were first perfumed here in Elizabeth's reign, for this Earl of Oxford was the first who brought or made perfumes here, and Stow also states that the sort which perfumed the queen's gloves was long called the Earl of Oxford's perfume. Probably this explains an entry in the in- ventory of James Backhouse, of Kirbye-in-Lonsdaile, taken in 1578, where " two pairs of Oxford gloves " are priced at 2s. 4d., for no other mention occurs of any special kind of gloves made at Oxford. In this year of 1578, Nichols' Progresses of Queen Elizabeth records that " When the queen went to Cambridge in 1578 the Vice-Chancellor pre- sented a pair of gloves perfumed and garnished with embroiderie and gold- smithes wourke, price lx 8 ." "It fortuned that the paper in which the gloves were folded to open ; and hir majestie behoulding the beautie of the said gloves, as in great admiration, and in token of her thankfull acceptation of the same, held up one of her hands, and then smelling unto them, put them half waie upon her hands." In the Winter' 8 Tale, Autolycus cries "Gloves as sweet as damask roses," and it is said of him that "no milliner can so fit his customers with gloves." An old ballad entitled A Fayre Portion for a Fayre Maide also speaks of perfumed gloves. " One gives to me perfumed gloves, The best that he can buy me ; Live where I will I have the loves Of all that do come nigh me." GOB ( 152 ) GOI> And in the Wit's Interpreter , 1671, is to be found yet another notice of them.* GOBELINS. A celebrated manufactory, established at Paris in the Fauxbourg St. Marcel, for the making of tapestry and other furniture for the use of the Crown. The house where this manufactory is carried on was built by two brothers, Giles and John Gobelins, both excellent dyers, and the first, who brought to Paris the secret of dyeing that beautiful scarlet colour still known by their name ; as well as the little river, Bievre, on whose Banks they fixed their dye-house, and which is now known by no other name than that of the river of the Gobelins. It was in 1667 that this place, till then called Gobelin's folly, changed its name into that of Hotel Royal des Gobelins, in consequence of an edict of Louis XIV. The Gobelins has ever since remained the first manufactory of this kind in the world. The quantity of the finest and noblest works that have been produced by it, and the number of the best workmen bred up therein, are incredible. In effect the present flourishing condition of the arts and manufactures of France is in a great measure owing thereto. (E. Chambers : Cyclopaedia, 1741.) The supremacy of this manufactory is in a large measure due to the foresight and fostering care of Colbert, the celebrated French minister. Under him the different tapestry-pro- ducing ateliers were centralized and united with the Gobelins, and it was he who induced the king to purchase the factory, and to give his active patronage. The Gobelins manufactory still continues to maintain its pride of place, and one authority (Alfred de Champeatjx : Tapestry) says that the artists there employed ' ' have at the present time no rivals in this industry in the whole world," and that "their works are distinguished for finished execution, and a delicacy in the shading of the wools which it would be impossible to surpass." See Tapestry. The house in which Giles Gobelin lived in Paris is still known as the The Gobelins. GOLOSH, Galloche. Leather cases or clogs worn over shoes. Bailey. A wooden shooe or patten made all of a peece without any latchet or tye of leather, and worne by the poore clown in winter. Cotgrave. The name properly means a Gallic shoe, and is Latin in origin, although it comes to us from the French galoche. From the article made of indiarubber being now so universally worn, it is rather astonishing to find them so anciently worn. Yet it is only since 1830, when * See Nares' Glossary, and Fairholt's Costume in England for these quota- tions, with other information upon the subject. " Thou more than most sweet gloves Unto my most sweet love Suffer me to store with kisses This empty lodging, that now misses The pure rosie hand that ware thee, Whiter than the kid that bare thee. Thou art soft, but that was softer, Cupid's self hath kist it ofter Than e'er he did his mother's doves, Supposing her the queen of loves That was thy mistress, best of gloves." GOS ( 153 ) GOW Goodyear first invented "rubbers," as the Americans style them, that modern goloshes have been in use ; while the older forms of patten have been worn from time immemorial. " Gallages " appear in the Inventory of the wearing apparel of Henry V., and they are mentioned in the sumptuary laws which were from time to time deemed necessary to restrain the excessive length or breadth of shoes. In 1625 "a pair of galloshes " cost 2s. 8d. " So long have I listened to thy speche, That graffed to the ground is my breche : My hart-blood is wel-nigh frorne, I feele, And my galage grown fast to my heele." Spenser: JShejpheard's Calender. " Yours is fourteen shillings, boots and galloshes." Brohe : Covent Garden Weeded, 1658. GOSSAMER. Thin cobweb-like exhalations which fly abroad in hot sunny weather, and are supposed to rot sheep. Bailey. Literally, God- summer ; very fine spider-threads which float in the air or form webs on bushes in fine weather. (Old E. gossomer, so called from a legend that it is the shreds of the Virgin Mary's shroud which she cast away when she was taken up to heaven. ) Donald. " A lover may bestride the gossamers That idle in the wanton summer air, And yet not fall." Romeo and Juliet. The name now denotes a thin, filmy silk veil, but appears to have been formerly employed to signify cotton, or any light, ai*y matter, such as the seeds of thistles and other plants. This use of the word came from aossypium, the generic title of cotton, perhaps through gossampine, the French equivalent for the term. (Nares. ) " And my baths like pits To fall into, from whence we will come forth, And roll us dry in gossamour and roses." Ben Jonson : Alchemist, 1610. " Quilts fill'd high With gossamore and roses, cannot yield The body soft repose, the mind kept waking With anguish and affliction." Massinger: Maid of Honour, 1632. " Hadst thou been ought but gossamer, feathers, air, So many fathom down precipitating, Thou'dst shiver'd like an egg." King Lear. GOWN. (1) A long upper garment in general. (2) A woman's upper garment in particular. (3) The long habit of a man dedicated to acts of peace, as divinity, medicine, law. (4) The dress appropriated to peace in contradistinction to arms, which are peculiar to war. Bailey. The word comes either from the Saxon gum, in which form it is still met with in Welsh, where it signifies that which is stitched, or from the Norman gunna. The garment has been common to all periods of British costume, and has at times been worn by both sexes. The Boke of Curtasye (14th century) says : 11 The lord shall shift his gowne at night, Syttand on foteshete tyl he be dyght." GOW ( 154 ) GOW And in Appius and Virginia, a play of 1575, Haphazard remarks, " A proper gentleman I am of truthe, Yea, that may ye see by my long side gowne." Ten years before this date George Lame, Parson of Capgrave, bequeathed to "Rycharde Smythe wife and to Margaret Why t well my best syde gowne to be devyded betwyxe them two." He also left to Sir Thomas Sowrebye M my russet gowne lyned with furre." Sumptuary laws have of course included gowns in their denunciations, and attempted to restrict them in sundry particulars. By one of Henry IV. ' ' no person of lower estate than a knight banneret was per- mitted to wear cloth of gold or velvet, or appear in a gown that reached to the ground or to wear large sleeves, or use upon his dress the furs of either ermine or marten ; while gold and silver ornaments were strictly forbidden to all who were not possessed of two hundred pounds in goods and chattels, or twenty pounds per annum. Gowns and gar- ments cut into the forms of leaves and other figures at their edges, or ornamented with letters and devices, were altogether condemned, and declared forfeit to the king ; while the unlucky tailor who manufac- tured such finery was rendered Jiable to imprisonment during the royal pleasure." A similar law, passed in Scotland some years later, laid restrictions on the dress of merchants and their wives, making the men responsible for their wives and daughters dressing themselves in a manner appropriate to their position ! The women were directed to wear on their heads " short curches with little hoods, such as are worn in Flanders, England, and other countries ; and gowns without tails of ■unseemly length, or trimmed with furs, except on holidays," and the merchants were prohibited from wearing any clothing of scarlet. It is manifestly impossible to trace all the changes in a garment which has always been worn through all the fluctuations of fashion, and readers may be referred to standard works on costumes for further par- particulars, with the exception of those given by the following quo- tations : " Alas, may not a man see, as in our days, the sinful costly array of clothing, and namely in too much superfluity of clothing, such that maketh it so dear, to the harm of the people, not only the cost of embroidering, the disguised indenting, or barring, ounding, plaiting, winding or bending, and semblable waste of cloth in vanity ; but there is also the costly furring in their gowns, so much pouncing of chiasel to make holes, so much dagging of sheirs forche, with the superfluity in length of the aforesaid gowns, trailing in the mire, on horse and also on foot, as well of man as of woman, that all that trailing is verily as in effect wasted, consumed, and threadbare, rather than given to the poor." Chaucer. " The Duke of Buckingham wore a gowne wrought of needle worke, and set upon with cloth of tissue, furred with sables, the which gowue was valued at ,£1,500." Stow : Henry VIII., a.d. 1507. 11 Then, dainty girls, I make no doubt But we shall neatly send her out ; But let's amongst ourselves agree Of what her wedding gown shall be." Drayton : The Muse's Elysium, 1627. *' The toga, or gown, seems to have been of a semi-circular form, without GRE ( 155 ) GRO sleeves, different in largeness, according to the wealth or poverty of the wearer, and used only upon occasion of appearing in publick." Kennet : lioman Antiquities, 1696. 44 The Mercer entertained me with the modern mode of some of the nobility receiving Company in their morning gowns; perhaps, Sir, adds he, you have a mind to see what kind of silk is universally worn." Goldsmith : Citizen of the World, 1760-2. 4 ' Tailor. Imprimis, a loose-bodied gown. Grumio. Master, if ever I said loose-bodied gown, sew me in the skirts of it, and beat me to death with a bottom of brown thread : I said a gown. Petruchio. Proceed. Tailor. With a small-compassed cape. Grumio. I confess the cape. Tailor. With a trunk sleeve. Grumio. I confess two sleeves. Tailor. The sleeves curiously cut. Petruchio. Ay, there's the villany. Grumio. Error i' the bill, Sir; error i' the bill." Taming of the Shrew. - 4 Arms to gowns made yield.'' Dryden. li In length of train descends her sweeping gown, And by her graceful walk the Queen of Love is known." Id. GREBE. An aquatic bird having a long conical beak, short wings, and no tail. (Fr. grebe, W. creib, crest, one species having a crest.) GROGRAM. (Ger. grobgrun, Du. grofgrein, grein, Da. and Sw. grofgron, F. gros-grain, It. grossograna, grograno, Sp."* gorgoran, Port. fjrossagrana, gorgoran.) Stuff woven with large woof and a rough pile, a sort of stuff and silk ; it is in reality no more than a taffety coarser and thicker than ordinary. Bailey. A kind of cloth made of silk and mohair, of a coarse grain or texture (Old Fr. gros-grain, of a coarse grain or texture). Doxald. * It is significant that we find in the Book of Rates "Grograins, Turkey," there estimated at a value of 3s. 9d. the yard. This shows conclusively the original derivation of the word, and that it really means a stuff of coarse texture. It would not in such case be limited to any material or mixture of materials, but would be applied to any thick-threaded stuff. The first known grograms would be of mohair, and their import to this country from the Levant would lead to their being called Turkey grograms ; and in support of this we find in Anderson, under date of 1681, that, 44 as far back as the year 1670 the English Levant or Turkey Company began to complain of the East India Company, upon account of the great quantities of raw silk they imported from India, which had formerly been solely imported from Turkey. And in the year 1681 the Turkey Company complained thereof formally to the King's Counsel; whereupon a hearing ensued. The substance of the Company's allegations, being printed this year, are as follows, viz. : 14 The Turkey Company have, for near an hundred years past, exported * Fairholt says that " the mixed liquor called grog obtained its name from the admiral who originally ordered it to be given to the sailors, and who, from wearing a grogram coat was called ' Old Grog.' " GRO ( 156 ) GRO thither great quantities of woollen manufactures, and other English wares, to the great enriching of the nation ; and do now more especially carry out thither to the value of about five hundred thousand pounds yearly : in return for which, the goods imported are raw silks, galls, grogram yarn, drugs, cotton, &c, all which, being manufactured in England, afford bread to the poor of the kingdom." The Charter of Charles I. to the City, granted in 1641, includes " Grogram or Mohair Yarne"and "Chamlets or Grograms," which leaves no doubt that they were at that time made of mohair. (See Camlet.) Yet at the same time we find, among imported goods in the same charter, various stuffs of silk, which include " China Grograms," "Grograms," and " Silk Grograms." The Household Books of Lord William Howard, 1612-40, show payments made of 9s. a yard for crimson grogram, 6s. 6d. the yard for Turkey grogram " for a gown for my Lady," and silvered grogram at 21s. a yard, which, from its high price, may be reasonably presumed to have been a silken stuff, with perhaps a weft of silver threads. The complaint of the Turkey Com- pany is conclusive as to the stuff being at that time made up here, but we have proof of its being a manufacture of this country at a previous period in The Treasure of Traffike, or a Discourse of Forraigne Trade, 1641, by Lewis Roberts, merchant, andCaptaine of the City of London, in which he says, "Such commodities as may set the poore or richer sorte on worke, by making of sundry sorts of Fabrikes, either of Linen, and Woollen, Silke or the like; as are Cotton Wooll, and Yarne of which is made Vermillions, Fustians, Dimities, and such others ; also fleece-wooll, of which is made woollen-cloth, Sayes, Sarges, Perpetuanas, Bayes, and sundry other sorts, comprehended under the name of new drapery with us ; also Grograme -Yarne, of which is made yarnes, Grograms, Durettes, silke-mohers, and many others late new-invented Stuffes ; Flaxe, Hempe, and the yarne thereof of which is made all sorts of Linens, fine and coarse, all Ropes, Tackles Cables, and such like used in shipping ; all raw silke and throwne whereof is made all manner of Silke-Laces, Sattins, Plushes, Taffetas, Cally-mancoes, and many others." This survey of home manufactures in the 17th century is particularly interesting, and it is to be regretted that more literary merchants have not been as energetic as the Welsh merchant, to whom we owe so much for the descriptions of the trade of his day. Grograms and silke-mohers are illustrative of the extracts already given, and point to a stuff wholly of mohair, and another of mohair mixed with silk, both known as grograms. " Their gowns be no less famous than the rest, for some are of silk, some of grogram, some of taffeta, some of scarlet, and some of fine cloth, of ten, twenty, or forty shillings the yard." Stubbs : Anatomie of Abuses, 1583. " Certes they're neatly cloth'd. I of this mind am Your only wearing as your grogram." Donne : Satires. 41 Natolia affords great store of chamelots and grograms." Sandys. " Some men will say this habit of John's was neither of camel's skin nor any coarse texture of its hair, but rather somo finer weave of camelot, grogram, or the like." Browne : Vulgar Errors. " Plain goody would no longor down, 'Twas Madam in her grogram gown." Swift. -GRO ( 157 ) HAB "Which also hy proofe here in England, in making a piece of silke grogram, we found it to be excellent good." Hakluyt : Voyages. " Go, thou art as fretting as an old grogram : by this hand I love you for't." Ford : Love's Sacrifice, 1633. '• Too long my erring eyes have rov'd On City dames in scarlet dress; And scorned the charmful village maid, With innocence and grogram blest." Thompson : The Milkmaid. GROS DE NAPLES. A plain silken fabric made of stouter and harder thrown organzine silk than sarsnet or persian, and woven with more care and labour. GROS DES INDES. A silken fabric having a stripe formed trans- versely to its length. GUNNY (Bengalese guni). The name of a coarse canvas made from jute, of Indian manufacture. Much of the produce of India is imported into this country in gunny-bags. GUTTA PERCHA. Said to be derived from the L. gutta, a drop, and percha, from Pulo Percha, the island whence it was first obtained. See Caoutchouc. HABERDASHER. (Minshieu derives it of Halt ihr das ? Teut., Have you this ? as shopkeepers say when offering their wares for sale.) A pedlar, a dealer in small wares, as tape, thread, pins, needles, &c. Also a dealer in hats. Bailey. Haberdashers wer« of two kinds : haberdashers of small wares, sellers of needles, tapes, buttons, &c, and haberdashers of hats. The first of these would be well explained from On hapertask, trumpery things of trifling value. " A poor petty haber- dasher (of small wares), mercerot." Sherwood. The haberdasher of hats seems named from some kind of stuff called hapertas, of which probably hats were made. Wedgwood. * "This Fraternity, antiently, was indifferently call'd Hurrers and Milleners ; the latter, from the Merchandizes they chiefly dealt in which came from the Milan, in Italy. But they were incorporated by Letters Patent of the 26th of Henry VI., 1407, by the Stile of the Fraternity of St. Catherine the Virgin, of the Haberdashers of the City of London, But at present they are denominated the Master and four Wardens of the Fraternity of the Art or Mystery of Haberdashers in the City of London." A New and Compleat Survey of London, 1742. " Because these cunning men are like haberdashers of small wares, it is not amiss to set forth their shop." Bacon : Essays. " A haberdasher, who was the oracle of the coffee-house, declared his opinion." Spectator. " He setup his shop with haberdash ware, As one that would be a thriving man, To get great good for his welfare, The wife lapp'd in Morel's skin." The wife lapp'd in Morel's skin* * Haberdasher has also been given from " the man with the haversac," in which the itinerant merchant carried his smallwares, and from " hapertas," or u haberject," a cloth the width of which was defined by Magna Charta.. HAB C 158 1 HAN 14 The haberdasher heapeth up wealth by hattes." Gascoigne : The fruits of Warre, 15S9. " Is not rogue haberdasher come ? Haberdasher. Yes, here, Sir, I ha' been without this halfe-hour." Ben Jonson : TJie Staple of Neics, 1623. " At length the tedious days elapsed, I was transplanted to town, and with great satisfaction to myself, bound to a haberdasher." Hambler, No. 116. " The trader and the mechanic may assure themselves that, notwithstanding the flattering suggestions of their own vanity, they usually appear no less absurd, and succeed no less unhappily, in writing verses, or composing orations, than the student would appear in making a shoe, or retailing cheese and haberdashery." Knox : Essays, 1777. 11 A walking haberdashery Of feathers, lace, and fur." Sir "W. Scott : Bridal of Triermain. HABERJECT. A sort of cloth of a mixed colour. Bailey. Mentioned in Magna Charta as a distinct manufacture, and probably one of the earliest fabrics made here. Thomson says it is the German al-bergen (cover-all), or Hah bergen (neck-cover). Essay on Magna Charta. In Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, it is said to have been a coarse thick cloth used for the habits of monks, but no authority is quoted for the assertion. HACKLE. An instrument with iron hooks or teeth for sorting hemp or flax. Hence comes a very significant Scotch phrase, to hackle, i.e., to pester with questions. HAIR-NET. See Caul. HANDEWARPES. A 16th-century cloth, not only coloured, as has been stated, but also white, and apparently almost exclusively made in Essex, Norfolk, and Suffolk. "All and everie colored clothe and clothes ... of lyke sortes comonlye called Handywarpes . . . shalbe lysted as they have byne accustomed, and being well scowred, thick mylled, and fully dried, s^ene such clothe shall waye thre pound at the leste : And that all Whi tes ... as Coxsall Whytes, Glaynes- fordes, and other being Handwarpes of what lengthes soever they shalbe that conteyne in bredth as ys afore remembred, and be lysted as ys aforesaide.' , HANDKERCHIEF, Handkercher (of hand and l-ercher or hrchief). An utensil for wiping the face. Bailey. A piece of silk or linen used to wipe the face or cover the neck. Johnson. Planchc says that "the term is not met with earlier than the lGth century ; " but in the Wardrobe Accounts oj Edward I V. y 14S0, there is a payment to Alice Shapster for making and washing '* v dozen handcou- verchiefFes ;" an entry doubly interesting, because it distinctly shows the earliest use of the compound term, as well as the origin of the article. In 1662 " one handkircheife " is thought Bufliciently valuable to bo left in the will of Ralph Cleasby ; and again in that of Jane Fullthropp, Infill, " xi hand kirchifT* " are shown in the inventory of her effects. Henry VIII. used " handkerchcr8 of Holland fringed with Venice gold, redd HAN ( 159 ) HAN and white silk ; " others edged with gold and silver, and some of "Flanders worke." Amongst the new year's gifts to Queen Mary (Tudor), 1556, were "six handkerchers edged with passamayres of golde and silke," presented by Mrs. Penne, nurse to the late king Edward." Planch£. In Tu Quoque, a comedy of 1614, "a wench enters with a basket of linen," containing various articles for sale, and asks one of the characters, " Will you buy any handkerchiefs, sir ? " He replies, " Yes. Have you any fine ones?" and is answered, " I'll shew you choice : please you look, sir." It became fashionable to use them as favours : "Maydes and gentlewomen gave to their favourites, as tokens of their love, little handkerchiefs of about three or four inches square, wrought round about with a button at each corner." Slow. The best were edged with a small gold lace. Gentlemen wore them in their hats, as favours of their mistresses. Some cost 6d., some 12d., and the richest 16d. Mrs. Bury Palliser : History of Lace. In the Household Books of Lord William Howard, 1612-40, are entries of "One ell of holin for handchirchifes," 7s. 6d., and " For 3 yeardes of Scotts cloth for handkurchers for my Lord," 7s. 6d. " She found her sitting in a chair, in one hand holding a letter, in the other her handkerchief , which had lately drunk up the tears of her eyes." Sidney. " Then she said the psalm of Miserere mei Deus in English, in most devout manner unto the end. Then she stode up, and gave her maiden mistris Tilney her gloves and handkercher, and her book to maister Bruges, the lyve- tenantes brother,; forthwith she untyed her gown. The hangman went to help her of therewith : then she desyred him to let her alone, turning towardes her two gentlewomen, who helped her off therwith, and also with her frose paad and neckercher, giving to her a fayre handkercher to knytte about her eyes." The Ende of the Lady Jane Dudley. 11 Of pocket mouchoirs, nose to drain, A dozen laced, a dozen plain." Evelyn : Tyrranus ; or, The Mode, 1662. " Oft did she heave her napkin to her eyne, Which on it had conceited (fanciful) characters." Shakespeare : A Lover's Complaint. " Therefore present to her, — as sometime Margaret Did to thy father, steep'din Rutland's blood, — A handkerchief." King Richard III. " Have you the heart ? When your head did but ache, I knit my hand-kercher about your brows." King John. " He was torn to pieces with a bear : this avouches the shepherd's son, who has not only his innocence but a handkerchief, and rings of his, that Pauline knows." Winter's Tale. " And so covering his head, and holding an handkerchiefe before his face to horseback he went." Holland : Suetonius. HANK. Literally that by which any thing is hung or fastened ; two or more skeins of thread tied together. (Ice. hanki, cord ; Low Ger. henk, a handle — henken, to hang.) It is conjectured that the word Hank, signifying a skein of yarn, came from Hanckinus de Brabant, a weaver who, among others, received from Edward III. letters of protection to exercise his mystery of making woollen cloth in England. HAR ( 160 ) HAT HARDEN, Harden. A common linen made from tow, or the coarsest quality of hemp or flax. Hurds was once a name for tow. " Now that part (of the flax) which is utmost, and next to the pill or rind, is called tow or hurds." Holland : PUr^y. "Five quarters of harden for a wallet for the eeles" appears in the Household Boohs oj Lord William Howard, where its price is about 9d. an ell. In wills of the 16 th century mention is frequently made of this material. Roger Peles, Parson of Dalton-in-Furness, leaves in 1541 " one table cloth of lynne price xxd.," and "one table cloth of harden price iiijd.," which gives us an idea of its comparative value. In the will of Johan Wiclif, 1562, we have " hand towelles of harden," x pare of harden sheets valued at 20s., and "ix table cloths of harden" valued at 10s. Walter Strykland in 1568 left 40 yards of harden cloth, which are estimated as being worth 13s. 4d., or 4d. a yard. In The New Academy, 1658, a comedy by Richard Brome, Old Matchel, a merchant who has married his maid Rachel, is taunted by her: "Mrs. Match-ill indeed to be so match't ; " to which he replies, " So match't ! How match'd ? what from the hurden smock withlockram upper bodies, and hempen sheets to weare and sleep in Holland, and from the dripping- pan to eat in silver, ha ! " HARR ATEENS. Shown in 1739 as a woollen stuff made of combing wool. (See Philip and Cheney.) HAT. A head-covering. (Dan. hat, Ger. hiite, Du. hoeden, Fr. chapeau, It. cappelli, Ice. hattr, A.-S. haet.) " Skinner says from the Ger. Jiuten, Du. liaeden, to protect ; because it pro- tects from wind, sun, and rain." " Hoved, or hov'd, the past participle of Heave (A.-S. liaefari), has in'Tooke's opinion formed Hood, Hat, and Hut. And this hat will be the past tense or past participle of the same verb as Head itself is ; and mean, as Head does, something, anything heaved or raised as the head above the shoulders, the hat above the head." Richardson. For reference to particular fashions in hats, beyond such as are given in the quotations which follow, the reader must be referred to recognized works on costume. The price of hats and bonnets was regulated by the 4th of Henry VII. , which provided that "none sell a hatte above 20d. nor a cappe above 2s. 8d. uppon payne of forfeture of 40s. for every hat or cappe sold above the pry ce." And again by the 4th of Henry VIII. it was enacted that, " None of the Kynges subjects borne under his obeysance bie any cappis or hatts made and redy wrought in any part beyond the see, except lords or knights upon pain to forfeit for everie hat or cap so bought 40a., half to the kynge and half to him that will sue ; and that no capper sell any cap but it be sufficiently wrought and of sufficient colour after the fynes of the woll, upon payn of 6s. 8d. for every cap, and that no capper nor any other to his use sell any cappe of the fynest lemyster above 3s. 4cl., nc of the peconde lemyster above 2s. Gd., ne of the third sort of lemyster above 20d., nor of the fourthe sorte of lemyster above 12d., ne of the fynest sorte of cotteswolde not above 2s., nor of the seconde sorte of cotteswolde above 16d., and al other to bo sold as the parties can agre." Other regulations provided for certain marks being placed upon respective qualities, and that "no hatter, capper, or other person, sell HAT ( 1G1 ) HAT any hat above 2s.," with the usual stipulation that half of the penalty should go to the king and the other moiety to the person who went to the trouble of procuring a conviction. In the History of Chester is shown a curious extract from the Corporation records: "32 Henry VIII. , Henry Gee, Mayor. To distinguish the head-dresses of married women from unmarried, no unmarried woman to wear white or other coloured caps ; and no woman to wear any hat, unless she rides or goes abroad into the country (except sick or aged persons) on pain of 3s. 4d." The Booh of Rates, under "Rates Inwards" includes the following descriptions of hats : — Beaver, wooll, or hair, the Hat, 10£. ; Of Budges, the dozen, 10Z. ; Dutch felts, or hats made of wooll, the piece, 11. ; Spanish or Portugal felts, the dozen, 51. ; Of silk French making, the dozen* 31. ; Of Venice, the dozen, 31. ; Of wool or worsted trimmed, the dozen, 31. Under "Kates Outwards" we have: Beavers and Demicastors of English making, the dozen, 21. ; Felts and all other hats, the dozen, 105. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth felt hats became common ; and those of beaver were first introduced into general use. The hats worn at this period were of a great variet}' of shapes, some with crowns peaked, some flat and broad, and others round ; each kind being, besides, differently coloured and trimmed. Shortly afterwards, the rim was made remarkably broad, and when worn was liable to hang down ; these were called slouched hats. " From the reign of Charles I. to that of William III. very broad brims were in fashion ; but being found inconvenient, first one, and then two flaps, were made to turn up, until about the time of Queen Anne, when a third flap was turned up, and the regular cocked hat formed. During the ensuing fifty or sixty years cocked hats of various sorts were much in vogue ; and in the Tatler and Spectator the 'Monmouth cock,' the ' Ramillies cock,' the 'Hunting cock,' and the ' Military cock ' are alluded to. About 1750, round hats became prevalent among the lower orders, and cocked hats were considered as a sort of distinction from them. About 1780, round hats became fashionable; and by 1790 cocked hats were no longer common." (Waterston : Cyclopaedia of Commerce.) " And from the bench he drove away the cat, And laid adoun his potent and his hat, And eke his scrip, and set himself adoun." Chaucer :* The Sompnoures Tale. 11 So many pointed caps, Laced with double flaps, And so gay felted hats Saw I never." Skelton. 11 The prouost then assembled a great nombre of commons of Parys, such as were of his opynion, and all they ware hattes of one colour, to thentent to be knowen." Bkbhxbs: FroissarC s Cronycle, 1523. * Chaucer's Merchant wears "on his head a Flaundrish hever hat ;" the Yeoman " an hat upon his hed with fringes black," and the Wife of Bath " a hat " as broad as is a buckler or a targe." HAT ( 162 ) * HAT M Their collars, carcats, and false beads Wath velvet hats heich on their heads Corded with gold like ane younkeir, Browed about with golden threads And all for newfangledness of gear." Maitland MSS., circa 1555. " To weare Powle's steeple for a Turkey hat." Heywood : Spider and Fly, 1566. " And as the fashion be rare and strange, so is the stuffe whereof their hats be made diuers also, for some are of silk, some of taffata, some of sarcenet, some of wool. And so common a thing it is, tbat every serving man, country man, and other, even all indifferently, do wear these hats : for he is of no account or estimation among men, if he have not a velvet or taffata hat, and that must be pinched and cunningly carved of the best fashion. And good pro- fitable hats be these, for the longer you have them, the fewer holes they have." Stubbes : Anatomie of Abuses, 1583. " Oh ! monstrous superstitious puritan Of refin'd manners, yet ceremonial man, That, when thou meet'st one, with inquiring eyes Dost search, and, like a needy broker, prize The silk and gold he wears, and to that rate, So high or low, dost raise thy formal hat." Donne (1573-1631) : Satires. " Hats being thus come in (about 1587) men, as I take it, began then to sit uncovered in church, for, as hats look not so well on men's heads in places of public worship as hoods or bonnets (the former wear) they might, probably, be the first occasions of their doing so." Peck (1692-1743) : Desiderata Curiosa. " I am a churchwarden, and we are this year To build our steeple up ; now, to save charges I'll get a high-crowned hat, with five low bells, To make a peal to serve as well as Bow." Kandolph : Muses 1 Looking Glass, 1638. "Whether he (Lord Hervey) or Pope made the first attack, perhaps cannot now be easily known ; he had written an invective against Pope, whom he calls 4 Hard as thy heart, and as thy birth obscure,' and hints that his father was a hatter." Johnson: Lives of the Poets, 1779-81. " If the caps have passed through many metamorphoses, no less a change has been brought about by the other coverings contrived for the head. The dimi- nutive high-crowned hat, the bonnet, the hive, and the milkmaid's chip hat, were rescued for a time from old women and servant girls, to adorn heads of the first fashion. Nor was the method of cocking hats less fluctuating, 'till they were at length settled to the present mode ; by which it is ordered, that every hat, whether of straw or silk, whether of the chambermaid or mistress, must have their flaps turned up perpendicularly both before and behind. If the end of a fine lady's dress was not rather ornamental than useful, we should think it a little odd, that hats, which seem naturally intended to screen their facet from the heat or severity of the weather, should bo moulded into a shape, that prevents their answering either of these purposes: but wo must, indeed, allow it to be highly ornamental, as the present hats worn by the women are more hold and impudent than the broad-brimmed staring Kevenhulh rs worn a few years ago by the men. These hats are also decorated by two waving pen- dants of ribband, hanging down from the brim on tho left side." Connoisseur, No. 86, 1754. HAT ( 163 ) HAT HATBAND. A fashion of wearing a cord of gold, silver, or silk about the hat arose about the end of the 16th century, and was maintained throughout the Stuart period. The Duke of Buckingham is mentioned as wearing diamond hatbands, and they appear to have been frequently jewelled. In Patient Grissell, a play of 1603, one of the characters says : " Sir Owen and myself encountering, I veiled my upper garment ; and enriching my head again with a finer velvet cap, which I then wore, with a band to it of orient pearl and gold, and a foolish sprig of some nine or ten pound price or so, we grew to an imparlance." And in Davenant's comedy of The Wits, 1636, one Pallatine, bent on spoiling his elder brother, exclaims " "Where are his breeches ? speak ; his hatband, too ; "lis of grand price — the stones are rosial, and Of the white rock." They were sometimes so massive as to be termed cable hatbands. " I had on a gold cable hatband, then new come up, which I wore about a murrey French hat I had, — cuts my hatband, and yet it was massie goldsmith's work." Ben Johson: Every Man out of his Humour, 1599. " More cable, till he had as much as my cable-hatband to fence him." Marsto>~: Antonio and Mellida, 1602. It became in the reign of Elizabeth an outward ami visible sign of a man's having fallen in love to go without a hatband, to show a dis- regard of dress, "as if he were too much occupied by his passion to attend to such trifles, or driven by despondency to a forgetfulness of all outward appearances." Napes. " Then there isnone of my uncle's marks upon you : he taught me how to know a man in love. Then your hose should be ungarter'd, your bonnet unbanded, your sleeve unbuttoned, your shoe untied, and everything about you denoting a careless desolation." As You Like It. " Shall I defy hatbands, and tread garters and shoe- strings under my feet? I must ; I am now liegeman to Cupid, and have read all these informations in his book of statutes." Heywood : Fair Maid of the Exchange, 1637. 11 I was once like thee, A sigher, melancholy humorist, Crosser of arms, a goer without garters, A hatband hater, and a busk-point wearer." A Pleasant Comedy : Hoio to Know a Good Wife, dc. The Hatband Makers were incorporated by letters patent of the the 13th of Charles I., 1638. But this, with many other grants and monopolies, was revoked in the following year, on the ground that they had been obtained from the king " on pretences for the common good and profit of his subjects," but had since then " been found pre- judicial and inconvenient to his people," but, in reality, to attempt to stem the tide of popular disfavour. Still the Company of Hatband Makers flourished exceedingly during the continuance of the fashion, but decayed with its decline. m 2 HEM ( 164 ) HOL HEMP (Ger. hanf, Du. hennip, kerinip, Da. hamp, Sw. hampa, Fr. chanvre, It. canape, Sp. canayjio, Rus. konapli, konopel, Pol. Jconope). A valuable plant (the Cannabis sativa of Linnreus), supposed to be a native of India, but long since naturalized and extensively culti- vated in Italy, and many countries of Europe, particularly Russia and Poland, where it forms an article of primary commercial importance. It is also cultivated in different parts of America, though not in such quantities as to supersede its importation. It is stronger and coarser in the fibre than flax ; but its uses, culture, and management are pretty much the same. When grown for seed, it is a very exhausting crop ; but when pulled green it is considered as a cleaner of the ground. In this country its cultivation is not deemed profitable ; so that, notwith- standing the encouragement it has received from Government, and the excellent quality of English hemp, it is but little grown, except in some few districts of Suffolk and Lincolnshire. The quantity raised in Ireland is also inconsiderable. M'Culloch : Dictionary of Commerce. See Flax. HESSIAX. A coarse hempen cloth, the name of which is most pro- bably indicative of its origin. It is older than would be perhaps anti- cipated, for in the BooJ: of Bates it is enumerated, under linens, " Dutch Barras and Hessens Canvas, the 100 ells containing six score, £3 10s." HOLLAND. A kind of fine linen first made in Holland, although the title was given to all other linens which were sent, as wa3 at one time common, to that country to be bleached. " The principal mart or staple of this cloth is at Haerlem, whither it is sent from most other parts as soon as wove, there to he whitened the ensuing spring. That manufactured in Frizeland is the most esteemed, and called frize hol- land. It is the strongest and the best coloured of any of that fineness. It is never calendered, nor thickened as the rest ; but is imported just as it comes from the whitster. It is distinguished by its being yard, quarter and half wide ; whLh is half a quarter more than those commonly called frize holland, which are not right." E. Chambers : Cyclopedia, 1741. Among articles "requiring the regulation of a sumptuary law or some other good expedient,' 1 De Foe (CompUai English Tradesinan, 17-45) includes "the universal custom of wearing excessive fine linen : not a shopkeeper, not a drawer at a tavern, not a barber, not hardly a barber's prentice, but must have a shirt of fine holland of five or six shillings per ell ; and the ordinary beaus run it up to ten or twelve shillings an ell. Their grandfathers, perhaps as clean, though not so gay, contented themselves with good holland of less than half the price, and with shifting their linen perhaps twice a week ; to correct which, our nicer gentlemen have brought it to two shirts a day ; we may suppose their uncleaner bodies require it more than those of their ancestors did." " Pure Holland is his shirt, which, proudly fuire, Seems to out: ry where." Fii/.-.k.h kkv : Notes jrom Black Fryers, 1617. "The ninth of April he presented the groat Bassa with sixe clothes, four ranr . ler double gilt, and one piece of fine holland." Hakloyt : Voyage t. " Some for the prid-" 1 of Turkish court's desiyn'd, folded turbants finest holland bear." Dbtdkx. HOO ( 165 ) HOO " It must be allowed, that any young fellow that affects to dress and appear genteelly, might with artificial management save ten pounds a year, as instead of fine holland he might mourn in sackcloth. Spectator, No. 360. HOOD. Properly a covering for the head, but more frequently worn, in modern times, as an ornament for the back. It is the most ancient of head coverings, and comes from the Anglo-Saxon hod, head. HOOK. A piece of metal bent into a curve. From the Latin uncus, crooked, or Gr. angkos, a bend. HOOP. This article of dre3S, which may be safely said to have pro- voke£ more derision, antagonism, and discomfort than any other folly or foible of fashion, dates back to the reign of Elizabeth, when it suc- ceeded the farthingale. From this point until its disuse in the last century we may take Planche as our guide, philosopher, and friend, and learn from his little History of British Costume what changes the obnoxious hoop underwent: "In Sir Roger de Coverley's picture gallery his great-great-grandmother is said to have on ' the new-fashioned petticoat, except that the modern is gathered at the waist.' The old lady was evidently on the wheel fardingale which projected all round, for the knight adds : ' My grandmother appears as if she stood in a large drum, whereas the ladies now walk as if they were in a go-cart ; ' the whalebone petticoat, on its first introduction, presenting a triangular rather than a hooped appearance. In the month of «£uly in that year (1711) we find it was swollen out to an enormous size, so that what the ladies lost in height they made up in breadth, and a correspondent, speaking of the unfashionable country ladies at sixty miles distance from London, says they can absolutely walk in their hooped petticoats without inconvenience It frequently changed its fashion. In 1735 the hoop we perceive it projecting all round like the wheel fardingale ; the petticoat short and the gown without a train. In 1745 the hoop has increased at the sides and diminished in front, and a pamphlet was published in that year, entitled Tlce Enormous Abomination of the Hoop Petticoat, as the Fashion now is. Ten years later it is scarcely discernible in some figures, and in 1757 it reap- pears, expanding right and left into the shape which the Court dress of George III.'s reign has rendered familiar to us. . . . Though the large hoop was towards the close of the 18th century only worn at Court or in full dress, the pocket hoop is ridiculed in 1780 by a print, in which a girl so attired is placed beside a donkey laden with a pair of panniers. For the abolition of the Court hoop we are indebted to the taste of George IV." The quotations which follow are sufficiently illustrative to be of value, and to render further description unnecessary : " The hoop has been known to expand and contract itself from the size of a butter-churn to the circumference of three hogsheads : at one time it was sloped from the waist in a pyramidical form ; at another it was bent upwards like an inverted bow, by which the two angles, when squeezed upon each side, came in contact with the ears. At present it is nearly of an oval form, and scarce measures from end to end above twice the length of the wearer." The. Connoisseur, No. 36, October 3, 1754. HOS ( 1GG ) „ HOS " These hoops that hips and haunch do hide, And heave aloft the gay hoyst traine, As they are now in use for pride So did they first begin of paine." Stephen Gossox: Pleasant Quippes for Upstart Newfangled Gentleicomen, 1596. : ' Make your petticoats short, that a hoop eight yards wide May decently show how your garters are tied." Receipt for Modern Dress, 1753. " At coming in you saw her stoop, The entry brushed against her hoop." Swift. •* Let her hoop extended wide, Show what petticoats should hide : Garters of the softest silk. Stockings whiter than the milk." Fawkes : Odes of Anacreon, 1755. 11 From the hoop's bewitching round The very shoe has power to wound." Ed. Moore : The Spider and Bee. See Crinoline ; Farthingale. HOSE. A stocking, covering for the legs. Fr. house, hoaseau, It. Jwsa, Du. hose, boots, leathern casings. If a covering for the leg be the original meaning of the word, it would find a satisfactory explanation in the Gaelic cas, cos, the foot or leg ; cois-eidiadh (literally, leg-clothing), shoes and stockings. Wedowood. A covering for the legs or feet -(Low L., Old Ger. hosa, Welsh hos, A.-S. hose — hyd-an, to cover). Donald. Scin hose, that is, hose of leather, appear in Anglo-Saxon documents, but it is possible that these may have been a kind of boot, and in no way similar to our modern hose. In old Saxon figures a bandaged stocking is very common, resembling in appearance the Highland stocking. It was in common use among the shepherds and country people of France during the 13th and 16th centurirs. This part of the dress was made of white linen, aud was called dea limjettes, a name also applied to a part of the ancient costume of the women of the Pays de Cau.c, that covered the arm. The contadini of the Apennines at the present day wear a kind of stocking bandaged all the way up. (Archceolof/ia, vol. xxiv. ) From the practice of wearing leather hose, called chau.s«es, came the surname Chaucer, though with early chausses it is very hard to tell where hose ended and breeches or pantaloons "began. Ordinary hose came afterwards to be made of cloth, cut and fashioned by tailors. A curious passage from the Chronicle of Robert of Glastonbury, quoted by Fairholt, shows that there were various qualities of these hose in the time of William Rufus, although the king does not appear to have been a very good judge of them : " As his chamborlaine him brought, :»-> be rote, on a day, A morrow for to \v\in\ :i paire of bOM or s.iy : He asked irhai they oostnedf Three shillings, be said. 1'v !i (liable I quoth the kirn,'; who ley so vile ii tletnle? King to ireare to vile a cloth ! Hut it co, died more : i paire foru niarkc [13s. -Id. J, or thou sbalt huve cory soro! HOS ( 167 ) H03 And worse a paire enough the other swith him brought, And said they costned a mark, and unneth he them so bought : Aye, Bel-amy ! quoth the king, these were well bought ; In this manner serve me, other ne serve me nought." Long hose with feet to them appear first in the 14th century, when we also first have delineated that strange fashion of wearing odd hose, " which rendered uncertain the fellowship of their legs, and the common term of a pair perfectly inadmissible." This fashion is vigorously denounced by Chaucer, who declares that " the wrapping of their hose which are departed of (divided into) two colours, white and red, white and blue, white and black, or black and red, make the wearer seem aa if the fire of St. Anthony, or other such mischance, had cankered and consumed one half of their bodies." For over a hundred years this strange folly was followed, after which it was handed over to serving men, to be finally dropped about the middle of the 16th century. Edward IV. paid 13s. 4d. the pair for " hosen of cloth of divers colours ; " and in his reign a sumptuary law ordained that certain servants and labourers should not wear "any hosen, close or open, beyond the price of fourteen pence the pair (3 Edward IV.) In 1578 we find hose ranging from 7d. to 18d. the pair, and in the will of Edward Kyrke- lands of Kendall, of that year, there is mentioned "a pair pincke hose," " a pair hose-leggs," "a pair fres bretches," and "a pair hose and a pair bretches." These entries are significant of a change which had then recently been effected in the wear of leg coverings, the middle of the 16th century marking the division between hose and stockings, only the upper portion which covered the thigh being* then considered hose. At this time they were very elaborate, being frequently slashed, puffed, and richly embroidered. "Purple and velvet hose" are men- tioned in Maroccus extaticus, 1595, and " hosyn enclo3yd of the most costyous cloth of cremsyn," in the 25th Coventry Mystery. Towards the end of the 16th century, contemporary writers make frequent mention of paned hose, so called because they were cut away in diamond squares to allow of a contrasting colour to be seen through. These hose, probably to admit of the display of more patterns, were frequently bombasted (see Bombast). Bulwer, an author-doctor of the early part of the 17th century, says, "Bombasted paned hose were, since I can remember, in fashion," and in an earlier work is given ars elaborate description of the manner in which they were fashioned. "The Switzers weare no coates, but doublets and hose of panes, intermingled with red and yellow, and some with blew, trimmed with long puffes of yellow and blewe sarcenet, rising up between the panes." Massinger in his Old Law, 1622, says : " Our diseased fathers, Worried with the sciatica and aches, Brought up your paned hose first, which ladies laugbt at." And in his Great Duke oj Florence, 1636, mentions " My spruce ruff, My hooded cloak, long stocking, and paned hose, My case of toothpicks and my silver fork." Some descriptions of hose worn by Henry VIII. denote very costly articles. Holinshed shows him appearing with his attendants, the HOS 168 ) - HOS year after his accession, in hoses " of blue and crimson, powdered with castels and sheaf es of arrows of fine ducket gold, and the nether parts of scarlet powdered with tumbrels," and, in an inventory of his apparel are included "ftne (pair of hose) of purple silk and Venice gold, woven like unto a caul, lined with blue silver sarcenet, edged with a passemain of purple silk and gold, wrought at Milan," and " a paire of arming hoze of purple and white sattin, formed down with threads of Venice silver." But the ordinary wear of this king was the cloth hose common still to all his subjects, and the entries in the Privy Purse Expenses of his reign are most frequently of "hosyn of cloth," at from tenpence to one shilling the pair. Howel's History of the World, 1680-5, referring to the use of silk hosiery, after speaking of the costliness of silk in ancient times, goes on to say : " Silk is now grown nigh as common as wool, and become the cloathing of those in the kitchen as well as the court ; we wore it only on our backs, but of late years on our legs and feet, and tread on that which formerly was of the same value with gold itself. Yet that magnificent and expensive prince Henry VIII. wore ordinarily cloth hose, except there came from Spain, by great chance, a pair of silk stockings. King Edward, his son, was presented with a pair of long Spanish silk stock- ings by Sir Thomas Gresham, his merchant, and the present was taken much notice of. Queen Elizabeth, in the third year of her reign, was presented by Mrs. Montague, her silkwoman, with a pair of black knit silk stockings, and thenceforth she never wore cloth any more." These would be stockings, not hose (see Stocking), and for underwear. Silk came soon into more ordinary wear, though not so much so as to warrant all the strictures of Howel, which are obviously exaggerated. In 1623 there were bought for Lord William Howard "on pair of gren silk hose, 37s.," "four pair of worsted mingled, 40s.," and "on paer of grene, 9s." Early in the 17th century the hose, or trunk hose, were worn of enormous dimensions, a fashion which in the opinion of Planche began in the reign of Henry VIII. " The bases or skirts to the coat3 and jackets of that reign descending nearly to the knee, rendered any alteration to the upper stock invisible, but occasionally a glimpse is caught of either the upper stock ' bombasted ' out, or of independent breeches, no longer mere drawers, of ample dimensions, descending as low as the border of the bases. On the abandonment of the latter, these large breeches or sloppes became an important and splendid part of apparell ; and while the long hose were either supplanted by or new christened the trauses, the upper stock, or the breeches worn over them, received the name of trunk hose, and were cut, slashed, paned, and ornamented in the most quaint and extravagant manner, the nether stocks settling for good and all upon the lower part of tho leg, under the modern denomination of Stocking." Strutt quotes the following curious notes from a manuscript in tho Ilarleian Library : "Memorandum: That over tho seats in tho Parliament House there were certain holes, some two inches square in tho walls, in which were placed posts to uphold a scafFold round about tho house within, for them to sit upon who used the wearing of great breeches, stuffed witli hair like wool- Hacks, which fashion being left the eighth year of Elizabeth, tho scaf- foldu were taken down and never since put up." "The date on this HOS 169 ) HOS memorandum," Strutt adds, "is not very perfect, but I think it is anno 33 Eliz." The fashion of wearing that particular sort of large breeches might have been left in the eighth year of Elizabeth, certainly, as we have no mode of ascertaining the identical description to which the writer refers, the form varying in almost every representation ; but the fashion of wearing great, nay, enormous breeches, rather increased than fell off during the reign of Elizabeth, and they were worn preposterously large by James I. ; and Henry IV. of France, who ascended the throne in 1589, within two years of the date of the memorandum, is generally painted in precisely the same costume ; and this circumstance gives us faith in the testimony of Randle Holme, who says, " About the fortieth year of Elizabeth the old fashions which men wore in the beginning of her reign were then revived, with some few additions made thereto, such as guises, double ruffs, &c." {History of British Costume.) These trunk hose appear to have been originally indicative of boorishness, and to have been so worn by a famous comedian, Tarleton. Fairholt has in this, as in many other instances, given valuable contemporary evidence of the course of the fashion, and quotes from Rowland's Letting of Humours blood in the Head vaine : " When Tarleton clown'd it in a pleasant vaine, And with conceits did good opinions gaine ' Upon the stage, his merry humour's shop, Clownes knew the clowne hy his great clownish slop. But now th' are gulled ; for present fashion sayes Dicke Tarleton' s part gentlemen's breeches p'layes : In every street, where any gallant goes, The swaggering slop is Tarleton's clownish hose." Bulwer, in his Artificial Changeling, relates a comical incident where a gallant wearing these immense hose, which were sometimes stuffed with bran, had them torn by a nail on which he accidentally sat, so that, "as he turned and bowed to pay his court to the ladies, the bran poured forth as from a mill that was grinding till half the cargo was unladen on the floor. " The hose were more commonly stuffed with wool or hair, and this led to a ballad being printed with the title of " A Lamentable Complaint of the Pore Countrymen againste Great Hose for the losse of Cattelles Tails," in which is set forth 11 What hurt and damage doth ensue, And fall upon the poor, For want of wool and flax of late, Which monstrous hose devour .... .... not one beast or horse can tell Which way his tail his safe. For now in country round about, No gelding, horse, or mare, Nor other beast of any price Put forth all night we dare. Nothing so feared are we of thieves, Which oft are laid in jails, As now we are of miching knaves That cut off horses tails.' ' Again, in Wright's Passion oftheMinde, 1601, it is said : " Sometimes I have seen Tarlton play the clowne, and use no other breeches than HOS ( 170 ) HUC such sloppes or slivings as now many gentlemen weare ; they are almost capable of a bushel of wheate, and if they bee of sackcloth, they would serve to carry mawlt to the mill." Hose during the reign of the tirst James came to be, both in form and name, breeches. The real hose became stocking, to which readers must be referred for further information. u Their woven hose of silk are shawm (showing) Barrit aboon (above) with tastels drawin "With gartens of ane new manner ; To gar (make) their courtliness he knawin (known), And all for newfangledness of gear. Sometime they will hear up their gown, To shaw their wylie-coat henging down ; And sometime haith they vrill upbear, To shaw their hose of black or brown, And all for newfangledness of gear." Maitland MSS., circa 1555. " Their hosen are of sundre natures : some be called French hose, some Gallic, and some Venetian .... G-ally hosen are made very large and wide, reachyng down to the knees only, with three or four guardes a peece laid down along either hose. And the Venetian hosen, they reach beneath the knee to the gartering place of the lega;e, where they are tied finely with silke pointes or some such like, and laid on also with rows of lace or gardes, as the other before." Stubbes : Anatomie of Abuses, 15S3. w The poor Aristotelians walk in a short Cloak and a close Venetian hose." Return from Paniassus, 1606. 11 Kate. The hose are comely. Lucida. And then his left leg, — I never see it but I think on a plum tree. Abraham. Indeed, there's reason there should be some difference in my legs, for one cost me twenty pounds more than the other." Field: A Woman is a Wcatliercocl:, 1612. u As questionless, the streifjht, neat timber'd Le:?, First wore the Troncks. and lon^ silk-hose : As likely The Baker-knees, or some strange shamble-shanks Begat the Ancle-breeches." RfrwiBB Bbome: The Damoiscllc, 1653. " Doublet and hose ought to shew itself courageous to petticoat." A* You Like. It. HOSIERY. A term now made to include all kinds of woven under- garments, and even braces. HOUSEWIFE'S CLOTH is a middle sort of linen cloth bptween fine and coarse, for family uses. CHAMBERS: Cyclopaedia^ 1741. John \Vilken8on, of Newcastle, merchant, had in stock in 1571, " iij yeardes and half of hows wyff clothe," valued at 3s. Gd. HUCKABACK. A linen for towels with raised figures. Originally male from hen>]», and only deemed fitting for the use of servants, but since imitated in fine linen, and now to lie had in varying qualities. " About a month ago, Tint and Turin/ stitch teemed at a stand; my wife- knew not what new work to introdu. 1 , ntmd to propose thut the girls IMP 171 ) ING should now learn to read and write, and mentioned the necessity of a little arith- metic; but unhappily, my wife has discovered that linen wears out, and has bought the girls three little wheels, that they may spin hukkaback for the servants' table." Idler, No. 13. IMPERIAL. A fabric found in use in England during the 12th and 13th centuries under this denomination has roused conjecture, and caused some controversy. Dr. Rock quotes authorities who mention the stuff, and gives some theories which have been advanced to account for the title, with another one of his own. After stating that the stuff and its designation both came from Greece into this country at the end of the 12th century, the learned author adds: "Ralph, Dean of St. Paul's Cathdral, tells us that William de Magna Valla, on coming home from his pilgrimage to the Holy Land, about 1178, made presents to several churches of cloths which at Constantinople were called * Imperial. ' We are told by Roger Wendover, and after him by Matthew Paris, that the apparition of King John was dressed in royal robes made of the stuff they call imperial. In the Inventory of St. Paul's, drawn up in 1295, four tunicles (vestments for subdeacons and lower ministers at the altar) are mentioned as made of this imperial. No colour is spe- cified, except in the one instance of the silk being marbled ; and the patterns are noticed as of red and green, with lions woven in gold. It seems not to have been thought good enough for the more important vestments, such as chasubles and copes. Probably the name was not derived from its colour (supposed royal purple), nor its costliness, but for quite another reason : woven at a workshop kept tfp by the Byzan- tine Emperors, like the Gobelins is to-day in Paris, and bearing about it some small though noticeable mark, it took the designation of ' Impe- rial.' We know it was partly wrought with gold ; but that its tint was always some shade of the imperial purple is a gratuitous assumption. In France this textile was in use as late as the second half of the loth century, but looked upon as old. At York, somewhat later, in the early part of the 16th, one of its deans bestowed on that cathedral ' two (blue) copes of clothe imperialle.' " Textile Fabrics. INDENTURE. An agreement between parties, having originally- indented edges, being a document in duplicate written on a single sheet, and then afterwards divided in an irregular line, so that either party could check the correctness of the other copy. Tallies were not only used by means of sticks, but commonly in contracting deeds between merchants. One of the means of ensuring fair dealing was by Chirograph, a document written in duplicate with the word "chirograph " between, through the middle of which the parchment was cut and divided between the contracting parties. A duty on indentures varying with the pre- mium was firBt imposed by 8 Anne, c. 9. INGRAIN. Grain colour [grana, Ital. and Spanish]. This name was given to Scarlets, Crimsons, and Purples, from the Kerm.es, Berries, which were used for the purposes before cochineal was known. Bailey. Engrain, to dye deep, to dye in grain. Johnson - . To dye in the grain, or before manufacture. Dyed in the grain, or in the raw material, as ingrained carpets, Webster. To work into the natural texture ; to INK ( 172 ) * INK impregnate the whole matter or substance. Richardson. L. in, into, and grain, growth.) Donald. In 1302 the famous Charta Mercatoria was published by Edward I., and from a confirmation of it in 1328 we learn that ingrain-dyed cloths were even then well known. In the third clause a duty of 2s. is laid upon "every piece of scarlet cloth dyed in grain ; and one shilling and six-pence for every other dyed cloth, in the dying of which grain shall be mixed ; also twelve pence for every cloth dyed without any grain, and the like sum for every quintal of wax." The wording of this clause supports rather the derivation of the word from the Kermes, berries, (which were also once known as scarlet-grains) rather than from yarns dyed before weaving, or in the grain. " Then had not that confus'd succeeding age, Our fields ingrain'd with blood, our rivers dy'd "With purple-streaming wounds of our own rage, Nor seen our princes slaughter' d, peers destroy'd." Daniel: Civil Wars. " Seest how fresh my flowers bene spredde, Dyed in Lilly white and Cremsin redde, "With leaves engrained in lusty greene." Spenser: Pastorals. INKLE. " A sort of linen tape, or narrow fillet. Bailey. Mr. Steevens says he is informed inkle anciently signified a particular kind of crewel or worsted, with which ladies worked flowers, &c. Richardson. A sort of tape used as a trim- ming to dress. Planche. Tape, linen thread. Fr. ligneul, lignol, strong thread used by shoemakers and saddlers ; lignivol, shoemaker's thread. From the first of these forms are E. lingel, lingle, lingan. 11 ' Nor hinds wi' elson and hemp lingle Sit soling shoon out o'er the ingle.' Ramsay. The second from lignivol may probable explain O. E. liniolf: tlirede to sow with schone or botys, indula, lieincum. (Promptorum Parvilorum) the loss of the initial of which we have here an example would convert lingle into ingle or inkle." Wedgwood. With all deference to this latter authority, it is hardly possible to accept this conjectural derivation of inkle, the more particularly because no instance of the application of the word to linen thread can be found. Indeed, the very indefinite application of the word by Steevens to a kind of thread would appear most improbable were it not for the passage in Shakespeare's Pericles, which plainly denotes a kind of embroidering thread called inkle, where Marina " with lior nerld composes Nature's own shape, of bud, bird, branch, or berry, That even her art sisters the natural roses ; Her inkle, silk, twin with the rubied cherry : That pupils lacks she none of noble race, Who pour their bounty on her." But for this one instance to the contrary numbers of others can bo found which plainly point to inkle as a kind of tape. In the Fabric Holla of York Minster (Surtees Soc.) " ij peeces of white uncklo for girdles and lates (laces) " were purchased in 1515 for 7d. ; one penny was paid in 15G7 for " why to inclu to make synes in books," and again INK ( 173 ) INK in 1583 sixpence was paid for " ynkle strynges to the Bible and Communyon boke." In 1622 "xviij yards of ynckle for aprons" were bought for lSd., and were plainly required for apron strings. It was sometimes used for trimming. In the Corporate Accounts of Norwich, 1587, there is an entry for "white incle to lay upon the soldiers* coats." Fairholt says that it "was generally of a yellow colour, but sometimes striped blue and pink, or blue and red, and that it was worn by the humbler classes as a trimming until the end of the 17th century." It has been manufactured in this country for a considerable period. The Booh of Rates includes amongst "haberdashery English making," Packthred, Incle, Tape, Filleting, Buttons of all sorts, and Hooks and Eyes; but by the Charter of Charles I. to the City, granted in 1641, we find that it was also imported at that date, for it paid a Scavage Rate both when wrought and unwrought. A Description of Manchester by Hollinworth, published in 1650, says that its trade "is not inferior to that of many cities in the kingdom, chiefly consisting of woollen frizes, fustians, sackcloth, mingled stuffs, caps, inkles, tapes, points, whereby not only the better sort of men are employed, but the very children maintain themselves." An Universal Dictionary of Trade and Commerce, issued in 1766, says : " The manufactures called Manchester wares, such. as fustians, cottons, tapes, incle, &c, are sent on pack-horses to London, Bristol, Liverpool, &c, for exportation, and also to the wholesale haberdashers for home consumption ; whence the other towns of England are likewise served, or by the Manchester men themselves, who travel*from town to town throughout the kingdom. Of these goods they make at Manchester, Bolton, and the neighbouring places, above £600,000 annually." The manufacture of inkle is believed to have been originally brought from Holland. For many years the Dutch were formidable competitors to English manufacturers, and, having discovered the manner of weaving inkle by means of looms constructed for the purpose, they almost monopolized the trade. The secret was discovered in 1732 by one Alexander Harvey, a citizen of Glasgow, who in that year brought from Haarlem, "at the risk of his life, two inkle looms and a workman, and by this means succeeded in establishing the trades in Glasgow. The Dutch workman, after remaining some years in Glasgow, left his em- ployers on account of some real or imaginary slight, and proceeded to Manchester, soon making the manufacturers there as wise as their competitors on the north side of the Tweed." " Inkles, caddasses, cambrics, lawns." A Winter's Tale. ''Remuneration! O, that's the Latin word for three farthings: three far- things — remuneration. What's the price of this inkle f a penny : — No. Til give you a remuneration" Love's Labour'' s Lost. " My wife is learning now to weave inkle." Beaumont and Fletcher: The Scornful Lady. " I twitch' d his dangling garter from his knee ; He wist not when the hempen string I drew, Now mine I quickly doflf of inkle blue." Gay : Pastorals. " Lord ! why she and you were as great as two inkle-weaver3. I am sure I have seen her hug you as the devil hugg'd the witch." Swift: Tolite Conversations, INV ( 174 ) * J AC INVOICE. A letter of advice of the despatch of goods, with par- ticulars of their price and quantity. (It. avviso, from root of Advice.) JACCOXET. A slight soft muslin, sometimes plain and sometimes figured, made at Manchester and Glasgow. The finer qualities, which ought to be even woven throughout, perfect at the borders, and free from filling, are used principally for ladies' summer and evening dresses, and the lower qualities are exported to Egypt and the East. Ronald Smith. JACKET. A short coat. (Fr. jaquette, Sp. jaqueta, a diminutive of Tack, a homely substitute for a coat-of-mail. ) Doxald. JACQUARD, Jean-Marie, the inventor of the apparatus which bears his name. This is not a loom, but an appendage to looms which mechanically selects the warp threads and raises them when necessary. The invention has been applied to many branches of weaving, and ha3 worked wonderful improvement in all. Jacquard was the son of a poor silk weaver of Lyons, and was born in 1752. He was first emploj-ed as a bookbinder, afterwards as a type founder and cutter ; but on the death of his mother he assisted his father in weaving, and finally, when he inherited a small patrimony on his father's death, he used it in setting up a silk manufactory. This proved unsuccessful, mainly because his time was spent in attempting various improvements in the processes with which he was acquainted. The machine which after- wards rendered him famous is said to have been conceived in 1790, but its execution was delayed by the breaking out of the Revolution, which drove him into the ranks, first of the insurgents, and then those of the army of the Rhine. " In 1S02 he saw in an English newspaper that our Society of Arts had offered a prize to any one who should invent a plan for weaving nets by machinery. He set his wits to work, and, for his own amusement, soon produced a loom adapted to the purpose, but he made no attempt to obtain the reward, and, after showing his invention to a friend, put it aside, and for some time it was forgotten by him. To his surprise, he was one day sent for by the prefect of the department, who inquired about the machine, and requested him to make another, the original having been lost or destroyed. That he did, and a few weeks later he was summoned to Paris and introduced to Bonaparte. 'Are you the man,' asked Carnot, the minister, ' who pretends to do what God Almighty cannot do — tie a knot in a stretched string ? ' Jacquard answered that he could do, not what God could not do, but what God had taught him to do. He explained his device to the Emperor, who rewarded him with a pension of a thousand crowns, gave him employment in the Com> <'<.< Art*, and, while thus enabling him to exercise his ingenuity in other ways, encouraged the adoption of the excellent Jacquard loom. That, however, was almost more than imperial patronage could effect." (Fox BOUBNI : Homa/icc of Tradi ) "The Cojutil des Prudliomm* U, who are appointed to watch over the interests of the Lyonese trade, broke up his machine in the public fl : 'the iron (to use his own expression) was sold for iron — the wood for wood, and he, its inventor, VM delivered over to universal ignominy.' The invention was too valuable not to have found its way into other countries, which, by its means, were to enabled to rival, aud JEA ( 175 ) JUT even surpass, the products of the French loom. Then it was that the Lyonese weavers saw the folly of their opposition, and condescended to adopt the invention of the man they had so cruelly persecuted. The Jacquard apparatus is now extensively employed through the whole of the silk, worsted, and muslin manufacturing districts of France and England. A short time ago the French house of Didier, Petit, and Co. produced one of the most extraordinary specimens of silk weaving that has probably ever been executed. It is a portrait of Jacquard, representing that extraordinary man in his workshop, surrounded by his implements, and ' planning the construction of that beautiful machinery which now, in its increased perfection, returns this testimony to the genius of its inventor.' This work, worthily entitled Hommage a J .-M. Jacquard, was woven with such truth and delicacy as to resemble a fine line engraving. There were a thousand threads in each square inch, French, in both the warp and the weft." (Tomlinson : Useful Arts and Manu- factures.) Jacquard died in 1S34. The first Jacquard apparatus set up here was erected at Coventry in 1820. JEAN. A twilled cotton cloth, generally supposed to derive its name from Jaen, in Spain. " Gold of Jeane," "laces of Jeane," " biliment lace of Jean silk," are all mentioned in mediaeval documents ; but Jean in such cases means Genoa. That there was a common stuff having this distinctive name there can be little doubt, for in the inventory of Thjomas Pasmore, of Richmond (1577) is an item of two "yards of whitt jeanes," at lOd. the yard, and in the Household Books of Lord William Howard, in 1622, are entries of " A yard of jean, 12d. A quarter of jean for my Ladie's stockins, 3d." This probably may have been fustian, for " Jeanes fustian " is commonly found mentioned, and as frequently we find fustian used for socks. JENNY, Mule. See Mule Jenny. JENNY, Spinning. See Spinning Jenny. JERSEY. The finest of the wool, separated from the rest by combing. Bailey. Also a kind of jacket or overshirt. Jarsey is still the local name for worsted in Lancashire. From a corruption of this word came the old term jazey, for a wig of fine wool. JOB. Literally a lump or portion (hence job lots), any piece of work, especially of a trifling or temporary nature ; any undertaking with a view to profit ; in a bad sense, a mean lucrative affair. (0. E. gobbet, Fr. gobet, Gael, gob, the mouth (from the sound as vulgar gob, a mouthful) ; Fr. gobbe, a ball for swallowing — gober, to swallow.) Donald : Cham- bers's Etymological English Dictionary. JUTE. A material only introduced into our manufactures about 1840, although it had for long previous been used in India for making cheap sacking and cordage. It is obtained from corchorus, an annual growing from twelve to fourteen feet high, and the preliminary pro- cesses employed are very similar to those adopted in the preparation of flax or hemp. The seat of the manufacture is at Dundee, where it has created a new industry and attained large proportions. Jute is sometimes used in adulterating cheap silks, and from its brightness and lustre is very hard to detect in such cases. Its principal employment is in making canvas, sacking, and sailcloth. The chief source of supply is Bombay, although the plant is common all over India, and to China and Ceylon. An attempt has recently been made to establish the plant in Egypt. KENDAL. A cloth so named from Kendal, in Westmoreland, the primary place of manufacture. It was due to one Kemp, a Flanders weaver, who came into the country early in the reign of Edward III., accompanied by a number of dyers and fullers. The cloth is mentioned in an Act of Parliament of 1389 (13 Rich. II., c. 10), where it is exempted from the assize of lengths and breadths, and appears to have been a coarse fabric, for in Thynne's Pride and Lowllnesse a country- man is described as " A man aboute a fif tie years of age, Of Kendall very coarse his coate was made." Hall, in his Satires, also instances its use by the lower orders : " The sturdy plowman doth the soldier see All scarfed with py'd colours to the Knee, Whom Indian pillage hath made fortunate ; And now he 'gins to loathe his former state. Now doth he inly scorne his kendall greene." It was uniformly green in colour. Laleham, in an account of the entertainment given to Queen Elizabeth at Kenil worth in 1575, describes the minstrel as dressed in "a side gown of Kendal green," and was appropriately worn by forest outlaws : " All the woods Are full of outlaws, that in Kendall green Follow' d the outlaw'd Earl of Huntington." llobert, Earl of Huntington, 1601. " He's in Kendal green As in the forest colour seen." Ben Joxson : Underwoods. As is commonly found with particular cloths, the name was still retained even after the manufacture had been established elsewhere. In Hall's Life of Henry VIII. there is an anecdote recorded of a noble- man, who for the sake of diversion, disguised himself as Robin Hood, and came " suddenly into the chamber where the queen and her ladies were sitting. He was attended by twelve noblemen all apparelled in short coats of Kentish Kendal." Ten yards of Kendal for "a cote for the fole," at eightpence the yard, are entered in the Privy Purse. Expenses of Henry VIII. The manufacture appears to have flourished exceedingly, so that the town developed other branches of trade. De Foe, in his Tour through Great Britain speaks of Kendal as a rich and populous town, driving "a great trade in woollen cloth, cottons, r(lain'd,that ho Citizen should presume to Employ any I c in any manner of Business Exclusive of Feltmakers, Capuiiokevs, Carders, Spinners, Knitters and Brewers, upon the Penalty of Five Pounds for every ofranoo, and all Offenders, Conviction, refusing to pay, to be committed to Prison, without Bail or llainprize, till such Fines were paid. ' v .1 New and Oomptetti Survey of Lon- don, 17 12. KNO ( 1S5 ) KNO knitters in the sun." A manuscript in the Lansdowne Collection in the British Museum, bearing date of 1592, shows what manner of thing3 these early knit stockings were, with the sum they were valued at : "Knytt hose, short stocks, the dozen pah, poize (weight) 5 lbs., valued at (the pair) £0 4 Knytt hose, long stocks, the dozen pair, poize (weight) 6 lbs., valued at (the pah) .. 5 0" The further progress of knitting need not be traced. For some account of the invention which superseded it see the article Stocking Frame. " It may be so easily acquired, even by children, as to be considered almost an amusement. It does not interrupt discourse, distract the attention, or check the powers of imagination. It forms a ready resource, when a vacuity occurs in conversation ; or when a circumstance occurs which ought to be heaid or seen, but not treated with too much seriousness ; the prudent knitter then hears or sees what she does not wish to seem to hear or to see. Knitting does no injury either to the body or to the mind. It occasions no prejudicial or injurious position ; requires no straining of the eyesight ; and can be performed with as much convenience when standing or walking as when sitting. It may be interrupted without loss, and again resumed without trouble ; and the whole apparatus for knitting, which is cheap, needs so little room and is so light that it can be kept and gracefully carried about in a work- basket ; the beauty of which displays the expertness, or at any rate the taste of the fair artist. Knitting belongs to the few occupations of old persons who have not lost the use of their hands. Servants, soldiers, shepherds, and the male children of the peasants who are unfit for hard work, should learn to knit : it may be a pleasant and profitable employment ieoc the leisure even of the male sex." Becoianx: History of Inventions. " Ne shall I never ben an untrewe wif In word ne work, as fer as I have wit, I wol ben his to whom that I am knit." Chaucer (1328-1400). " Doe, doe, and mind The parson's pint t'engage him i' the busines ; A knitting cup there must be." Ben Jonson. " A thousand Cupids in those curls do sit ; Those curious nets thy slender fingers knit." Waller. " Heaven speed the canvass gallantly unfurl'd To furnish and accommodate a world, To give the pole the produce of the sun, And knit th' unsocial climates into one." Cowper: Charity. KNOT, Knotting. That which is knit ; a process sometimes employed in the manufacture of fringes. It was once a fashionable diversion, and as such is recommended to beaux in the r>36th number of the Spectator : " Pretty gentlemen are not made for any manly employments, and for want of business are often as much in the vapours as the ladies. Now what I pro- pose is this, that since knotting is again in fashion, which has been found a very pretty amusement, that you will recommend it to these gentlemen as something that may make them useful to the ladies they admire. And since it is not inconsistent with any game, or other diversion, for it may be done in the playhouse, in their coaches, at the tea-table, and in short in all places where they come for the sake of the ladies (except at church be pleased to for- KOL ( 1S6 ) LAC bid it there to prevent mistakes), it will be easily complied with. It is besides an employment that allows, as we see by the fair sex, of many graces, which will make the beaux more readily come into it ; it shows a white hand and a diamond ring to great advantage ; it leaves the eyes at full liberty to be em- ployed as before, as also the thoughts and tbe tongue. In short, it seems in every respect so proper, that it is needless to urge it farther, by speaking of the satisfaction these male knotters will find, when they see their work mixed up in a fringe, and worn by the fair lady for whom and with whom it was done." KOLINSKY (Fur). " The skin of the sable of Tartary, seldom seen in its natural colour, which is a bright yellow, but generally dyed a brown , in imitation of real sable, which it closely resembles. It is remarkable for the uniformity of its colour, having no spot or shade of difference on any part of the body. The tail, which is of the same colour, is exclusively used for the best artists' pencils." Uee. LACE 1 . A line, string, or cord ; silk, thread, &c. 2. An edging of fine white thread wrought in figures, for women's head-clothes. 3. Textures of thread with gold or silver. 4. A snare, or gin, a trap. 5. A plaited string of thread or silk with which women fasten their clothes. 6. Sugar, a cant word. Bailey. Also in old authors written las (Fr. lacer, lacet, from the Latin laqueus, a noose). A lace, any- thing which catcheth or holdeth, tieth, bindeth, or fasteneth, applied to cords, or strings, or threads, plain or interwoven, of various materials ; also to the substance of such interweaving. Richaedson. Fr. lacer, to lace, bind, or fasten. The lacing is thus the binding of a garment, and the name has been appropriated to the border of gold or silver tissue, of silk or open thread work, used as an ornamental edging to garments of various kinds. Wedgwood. All early lace in no way resembled the delicate fabrics with which we associate the name. A kind of net in needlework, sometimes embroidered, was known to the Greeks and Romans, and some description of open work can be traced as used for orna- mental borders to the garments of the Egyptians, who are known also to have worn platted and knotted fringes. But anything akin to modern lace cannot be traced further back than the six- teenth century, although mention of " lace " occurs before that period. This was made of looped gold thread, occasionally used with silk or thread, and was principally made at Venice. Thus Anne, consort of Richard III., wore at her coronation a mantle of white cloth of gold, trimmed with " lace of white silk and Venys gold." Other kinds of what may be called lace were formed by cutting patterns in cloth, and securing the edges from fraying by overlaying them with fine stitches, by embroidering a pattern on cloth, and then after cutting away the interstices, securing the edges, or working on them a purling of crochet work, or even by drawing the threads of fine cloth or muslin in different directions so as to form a pattern. Narrow braids were also frequently used in forming such patterns. This probably formed a domestic avocation for a period long before we liud any mention of its being established here, and its course in reaching this country is thought to have been from Genoa and through Flanders. The earliest authoritative mention of English lace is found in a statute (not included in the Acts of Parliament) which LAC ( 1S7 ) LAC was passed upon " the heavy complaint of the women of the mystery of silk and thread workers in London," protesting against the importation of six foreign women, probably Flemings, wno had introduced the cut work of that period, a work until that time apparently unknown here. Eight years, later, again following the complaint of home " manufucturers and tradesmen," Edward IV. passed the well-known Act which prohibited the importation of certain goods, among which were included "laces, corses, ribbands, fringes of silk and of thread, laces of thread, silk twined, silk in anywise embroidered, laces of gold, and of silk and gold ;" on which is based the assumption that all such articles were then manufactured here in quantities sufficient to meet the demand for them. These restrictive measures must have been largely inoperative, for they were found to require renewal by successive Acts in the reigns of Richard III., Henry VII.,* Elizabeth, and Charles II., which latter (14 Car. II.) prohibited any person or persons whatsoever from selling or causing to be sold, or offering for sale, any "forreign Bone-lace, Outwork, Imbroidery, Fringe, Band-strings, Buttons, or Needle-work made of Thread, Silk, or any or either of them, in parts beyond the Seas, upon penalty of Fifty pounds, and the forfeiture of the goods." In the inventory of James Backhouse, so frequently quoted herein, there appears an extensive stock of laces, which may be taken as representative of those manufactured at that time (1578) : " j grose of statut lace, 5s. 8d. j paper of statut lace, 6s." Probably lace made in accordance with some Act of Parliament as statute caps complied with the Act of 1571. " Crose lace, KM. per doz." Possibly a plain net. " iiij dos. (dozen) of iiij pyrlyd (purled) lace, -is. Lace 5d. to 9d. per dozen, vij dos. and a d. (half) of bylliament, Ss." Billiment is a term used for lace, which apparently was applied to some particular description, since both are used in conjunction, but where billiment ends and lace begins the best authorities are unable to decide. Bailey defines Billiments as "ornaments and cloathes for women " and shows it as contracted from Habiliments, clothes ; so that billiment may have been a kind of coarse lace for dress-trimming — perhaps like gimp, or the indented tooth-like trimming worn at this and earlier periods. " vij dos. of open lace, 6s. 6d. ij grose ix dos. of crowne lace, 19s. Lace Edgin, Is. per dozen. Hollan lace. x owncis of sylke bylliment, 12s. Gold and sylver edgin, 4s. per doz." * This Act was passed to prevent the buyers of gold and thread lace of Florence, Venice, and Genoa from selling for a pound weight a packet which did not contain twelve ounces, and the inside of the said gold, silver, and thread lace was to be of equal greatness of thread, and goodness of colour, as the outside thereof. LAC ( 1S8 ) LAC In this latter item we come to laces made either wholly or in part from wires of precious metals and in these following — * " Coper lace, gold and sylver, 5d. per doz. Coper lace gold, lSd" — to imitations of them in baser metals. They were, by this large stock in the hands of a country tradesmen, and by their comparative lowness of price, coming into more general use. The various kinds of needlework lace then in use "had reached a high degree of perfection in most European countries when the art of making pillow lace was invented, about the middle of the 16th century." Some early writers asserted that it was discovered in Flanders, but by whom, and when, is not stated. After much laborious investigation bestowed by inquirers in after years, it has been almost universally attributed to Barbara, the wife of Christopher Uttmann ; she was dwelling with her husband at the castle of St. Annaberg, on the borders of Saxony, in 1561. " This is the unanimous affirmation of all annalists in that part of Saxony. And from the Castle where she had taught it to the peasantry, as in a school, it soon spread to all the wives and daughters of the miners in that district, who found making this lace more productive than their former employment of em- broidering veils according to the Italian practice, and soon supplanted them as an article of commerce." (See the History of Annaberg, by Paul Jenisco, Dresden, 1605.) "No traces of this mode of netting, twisting, or plaiting threads, drawn from spools or bobbins into lace, by passing them round pins on a cushion, can be found used before this time, nor anything appropriate to it, furnishing strong presumption that this was the time and place of the invention. Barbara Uttmann saw sixty-four of her children and grandchildren, and died in 1575, aged 60. That she was the true inven- tress is recorded on her tomb." (Felkin.) The industry rapidly spread, and was probably improved or modified from the original introduction, particularly when it reached the Italian needlework centres. We learn that in 1578, Bianca Capello, a patrician of Venice, was granted a monopoly of a particular kind of lace, and that, seven years later, Catherine de Medicis gave a similar exclusive privilege to make and sell collorettes gaudromnees, which she had herself introduced to the Venetian Vinciola. According to an uncertain tradition, the lace manufacture was introduced into this country by some refugees from Flanders, who settled at or near Cranfield, now a scattered village on the west side of Bedfordshire, and adjoining Bucks : but there is no certain evidence that we are indebted to the Fleming3 for the original introduction of this beautiful art, although from them we undoubtedly derived almost all the different manufactures relating to dress. We have, however, imitated many of their lace fabrics, and greatly improved our manufacture at various periods, from the superior taste displayed in the production of this article in the Low Countries. One of the objects of Sir Henry Borlase in founding the free school at Great Marlow, in 1626, was that 24 girls should be taught to knit, spin, and make bone Inre (Lewies Topography) ; so that there is reason to suppose that at this time the manufacture bad commenced in Bucking- hamshire, which by degrees extended to the adjoining counties of Bed- ford and Northampton. In 1640, the lace trade was a nourishing liAC ( 189 ) LAC interest in Buckinghamshire (Fuller's Worthies, and different Itineraries) ; and so greatly had it advanced in England, that by a royal ordinance in France, passed in 1660, a mark was established upon the thread lace imported from this country and from Flanders, and upon the point lace from Genoa, Venice, and other foreign countries, in order to secure pay- ment of the customs duties. McCulloch : Universal Dictionary. By this time, and for long previous, lace was much worn, and in- stances of its use by royal personages frequently occur. Mary Stuart, when at Lochleven, had delivered to her by Sir Robert Melville " a pair of white satin sleeves edged with a double border of silver guipure." Her rival, Elizabeth, was fond of laces and outworks of all kinds, as contemporary documents conclusively show, and the wardrobe expenses of the Stuarts again prove their liking for the soft graceful folds and delicate designs of beautiful lace. • ' Parchment lace of watchett (pale blue) and syllver" appears among the laces of Eliza- beth. Charles I. had his carpet bag trimmed with ' ' parchment gold lace," his satin nightcaps with gold and sliver parchment laces, and even thejbag and comb-case for his majesty's barber were decorated with "silver, purple, and parchment." The varieties enumerated among imported goods in 1675 are " Bone lace, Brittain lace, Cruel lace, Gold and Silver lace, Pomet lace, Purle or antlet lace, Silk bone lace," with ' ' Silk lace of all other sorts ; " those exported are ' ' Lace of gold and silver, Lace of Velvet and Statute lace." At this point the history of lace diverges into many separate tracks. It would be idle to attempt here to follow each variety to its home, or to give in a short history what has taken a large volume to cover. The reader may be referred for more precise and technical information to Mrs. Bury Palliser's ex- haustive and beautifully illustrated History of Lace for machine-wrought lace, and to Felkin's History of the Machine-wrought Hosiery and Lace Manufactures, another work valuable for its searching inquiry and elaborate detail, as well as for many illustrations. Slighter sketches are to be found in this latter author's contribution to a recent series of works on British Manufacturing Industries, in an essay in- cluded in another series of handbooks issued by the South Kensington Museum authorities, entitled The Industrial Arts, as well as in the Dictionary of Needlework. " Our English dames are much given to the wearing of costly laces ; and if they be brought from Italy they are in great esteem." Bacon's Advice to Villiers. " He wears a stuff whose thread is coarse and round, But trim'd with curious lace." Herbert. " The finest smocks and linnen petticoats of my Lady Castlemaine's, laced with rich lace at the bottom, that ever I saw ; and did me good to look at them." Pepys: Diary, May 21, 1662. " By mercers, lacemen, mantua-makers press'd, But most for ready cash for play distress'd, "Where can she turn ?" Jenyns: The Modern Fine Lady . Many instances occur in early writers of the use of the word " lace " in the sense of a noose or tie. " The king had mared been in love's strong lace." Fairfax. LAC ( 190 ) LAC " And in my mind I measure pace by pace, To seek the place where I myself had lost, That day that I was tangled in the lace, In seeming slack, that knitteth ever most." Surry : The Bestless State of a Lover. " Yet if the polype can get and entangle him (the lobster) within his long laces, he dies for it." Holland : Plutarch's Morals. The employment of cord lace for fastening stays is also very ancient, being found in use for that purpose by Norman ladies. For a represen- tative account of the kinds in use in medieval times, with the prices they bore, we may again refer to old inventories : " j lb 9 0z of lasing silk," 18s., and " ij peces and ix yeardes of pointinge silk," 6s. 8d., occur in an in- ventory of 1571, showing the use at that time of so valuable a material as silk for lacing cords. Again, in 1578, we have " ix dysson of crulesand sylke points," 4s. 6d., and " sylke points," at 5d. per dozen ; while points of "thred" were 2^d. per dozen, and " Scotish lace points " 16d., and " thred laces " 16d. per gross ; " ij dosson of Norrige (Nor- wich) lacine," 8d. Our bobbin cords were also in use at this early period, and under their present name, for there are enumerated — " v quarterons of Skotishe bobin sylke, 5s. 4d. Bobing lace, 6d. per oz. vii oz. of bobbing, 2s." And in the inventory of John Wilkenson, taken May 4, 1571, from which items are given above, we have also "cording for porses," and " xv ouncis of pepp'en (piping) thread," 2s. 6d. Leather laces were particularly forbidden to be imported by the Acts of Parliament 1 Rich. III., 5 Eliz., 3 Chas. I, and 14 Chas. II: " A dagger hanging by a lace had he About his neck, under his arm adown." Chaucer : The Shipnanne. " And therefore sith I know of love's peine, And wot how sure it can a man destreine, As he that oft has been caught in his las." Ib. : The Knights Tale. " And on her legs she painted buskins wore, Basted with bends of gold on every side, And mailes between, and laced close afore." Spenser: Faerie Qucene, 1590-(> " Good strings to your beards, new ribbons to your pumps." .1 Midsummer Night's Dream. " All, cut my lace asunder ! That my pent heart may have some scope to beat, Or else I swoon with this dead-killing news." King Richard III. " Autolycus. I have sold all my trumpery ; not a counterfeit stone, not a riband, glass, pomander, brooch, table-book, ballad, knife, tape, glove, shoi-tU', bracelet, horn-rin^, to keep my pack from fasting." A Wintrr's i'tilc. '• Swift from her head sin; loos'd with eager haste The yellow curls in artful fillets lae'd." Hoole : Jerusalem Delivered, 17C>:). " Doll was ne'er called to cut her lace, Or throw cold water in her face." Switt. LAK ( 191 ) LAS LAKE, Cloth of. Strutt defines this as "a kind of fine linen, or perhaps rather lawn.'' (Dress and Habits.) In the 14th century it appears to have been charged a shilling an ell. Planche thinks this could hardly have been so fine as lawn, since Chaucer shows it in use not only for a shirt, but for drawers also : " He did on nest his white lere, And a cloth of lake, full fine and clere, A brech and eke a shirt." Byrne of Sir Thopas. And prefers to show it as cloth of Liege, as that city is called Luye in Flemish, and the corruption from Luye into Lake is an easy one ; more- over, Kilian says lueclcen (Belgian) signifies both linen and woollen cloth, and Liege still has its manufacture of cloth and serge. (Cyclopaedia of Costume. ) LAP. The loose or overhanging flap of anything, the part of the clothes lying on the knees when a person sits down ; the part of the body thus covered ; a fold (A.-S. lappa, Ice. lapa, to hang loose ; Grer. lapp, slack — lappen, anything hanging loose). Doxald. LAPEL. That part of a coat which is lapped over. LAPPET. A little lap or flap composed of lace and muslin : they were much worn during the 18th century. In his Anecdotes of Painting Walpole says: "The habits of the times were shrunk into awkward coats and waistcoats for the men, and for the women to tight- laced gowns, round hoops, and half a dozen squeeacd plaits of linen, to which dangled behind two unmeaning pendants, called lappets, not half covering their strait-drawn hair." A contemporary print thus ridiculed this, with other prevailing fashions : " Sing her daubed with white and red, Sing her large terrific head, Nor the many things disguise Tbat produce its mighty size ; And let nothing be forgot, Carrots, turnips, and what not ; Curls and cushions for imprimis, "Wool and powder for the finis. Lace and lappets, many a flag, Many a party-coloured rag, Pendent from the head behind, Floats and wantons in the wind." " And sails with lappet-head, and mincing airs, Duly at chink of bell to morning pray'rs." Cowper : Truth. " How naturally do you apply your hands to each others' lappets, and ruffles, and mantuas." Swift. LASTING-. A contraction of Everlasting, under which title it appears as a stuff " of Combing Wool" in Observations on Wool and the Woollen Manufactures, 1739. In 1800 they are described as "a stout fabric, only eighteen inches wide, with double warps (sometimes of three threads) and single weft, made with a five-heald twill of Nottingham- shire and best Lincolnshire wool. There were different sorts of lastings, as prunellas, wrought with three healds ; also serge de Berry, a variety XAW ( 192 ) LAW heavier, and woven with seven healds." (History of the Worsted Manufacture.) The stuff is still known in commerce, and used yet in the manufacture of ladies' boots. It was, according to Booth's Anylytical English Dictionary, used for similar purposes some years ago. The account of it given in this work affords some additional information as to its varieties and uses : ' ' Lasting, or everlasting, is a stout closely- woven worsted stuff, dyed black and other colours, and much used for ladies' shoes. Lasting is woven either with a double twill or a satin twill, in which latter case it is called Denmark satin. It is also figured, and a very fine sort, of various patterns, is exported to the Continent, which, being chiefly used for church furniture, is called Amen, or Draft." LAWN. (Ger., Du., Sw., and Fr. linon, Da. sindal, linon, It. linone, ronsa, Sp. camoray clarin, Port, cambraia transparente.) A sort of fine linen cloth, remarkable for being used in the sleeves of bishops. Bailey. Fine linen. Johnson. From the Fr. linon. Cotgrave calls it "a fine thin open-waled linnen much used in Picardie (where it is made) for women's kerchers and Church-men's surplices." Richardson. A kind of fine linen. Fr. linon, from which, however, the English word can hardly be derived. Sp. lona, canvas, a texture agreeing with lawn in being open and transparent. It is remarkable that lawn, an open space between woods, seems to be so called from the opportunity it affords of seeing through. Wedgwood. A sort of fine linen, or cambric (L. linum, flax). Donald. Dr. Brewer, in his Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, gives a fanciful derivation for this word, as having come from its being bleached upon a lawn, instead of on coarser and more ordinary grass ; but in this there is an intolerable deal of fancy to a very small portion of fact. Stow (King James, An. 1604) says, "In the third yeareof the rayne of Queene Elizabeth, 1562, beganne the knowledge and wearing of lawne, and cambricke, which was then brought to England in very small quantities." This account does not agree with several entries in the inventory of the effects of Henry V., taken in 1423, where several pieces of lawn of the value of 3s. and 4s. the ell are mentioned. The stuff is again mentioned in the Act 3 and 4 Edward IV. (see Kerchief, and the note thereto), and in a sense plainly denoting a fine linen. So that Stow's statement must perforce be deemed incorrect.* Happily this sumptuary law places it beyond doubt that a fine linen is meant, for we find the term lawn applied in 1363 to a kind of cloth : "Plowmen, carters, shepherds, and such like, not having forty shillings value in goods and chattels, shall wear no sort of cloth but blanket and russet lawn of twelve pence, and shall wear girdles or belts." It is again open to doubt whether lawn was imported and only used in small quantities at any time in Elizabeth's reign, seeing the enormous number and size of the ruffs worn, which were made of lawn. In 1578 we find lawn priced at 4s. the yard. Elizabeth in 15S6-7 paid * Lydgatc, who lived between 1375 and 1460, in his poem of London J i'cnny, says, " Then to tho Chepe 1 gaxi me drawen, "Where inii'-li peOplfl I s:iw for to stand. One ofl'ered a \ -ilk, and faton." LEN ( 193 ) LIN sixty shillings for " six yards of good ruff-lawn well worked witfc cutwork, and edged with good white lace." In 1620 lawn appears in Lord William Howard's Household Books : " 6 yards of lawne for my Lady, 4s. 6d. For a yard of lawne sent to Mrs. Bowman, 2s." Cobweb-lawn is shown in these accounts at 2s. the yard, and is also mentioned in the Dramatic Pastoral, 1631. Lawn has even been used for boot-tops. In 1652 the Dean of Christ Church and Vice- Chancellor of Oxford, John Owen, is described as arraying himself "inquerpo, like a young scholar," with a "lawn band and Spanish boots with large lawn-tops." " The next to it in goodnesse, is the line called Byssus : the fine lawne or tiffanie whereof our wives and dames at home set so much store by for to trim and deck themselves ; it groweth in Achaia within the territorie about Elis." Holland : Plinie. " If thou but please to walk into the parson, To buy thee cambrick, calico, or lawn, If thou the whiteness of the same wouldst prove, From thy far whiter hand pluck off thy glove." Drayton : (Edward IV. to Mrs. Shore)* " Her lawny veil, That from his sight it enviously should hide her." Draytox. " Those limbs, in lawn and softest silk array'd, From sun-beams guarded, and of winds afraid, Can they bear angry Jove ? Can they resist The parching Dog-star, and the bleak North-east." Prior : Edwin and Emma*, " The lawn-rob'd prelate and plainer presbyter, Ere-while that stood aloof, as shy to meet, Familiar mingle here like sister streams, That some rude interposing rock had split." Blair : The Grave, " What awe did the slow, solemn knell inspire ! The duties by the lawn-robed prelate pay'd, And the last words that dust to dust convey' d." Tickell. LENO MUSLIN. A linen muslin. (Fr. tin, Russ. , Pol. len, It. , Sp. lino, flax.) LEVANTINE. A stout twilled silk, so named from having origin- ally been brought from the Levant. LILLS. A very small pin ; probably an abbreviation of Lilliputian. LINCOLN GREEN. Formerly a favourite and well-known colour, commonly worn by archers in cloth, and particularly by Robin Hood and his men. Several notices of it occur in Drayton's works. In the Pobjolbion we have : 11 Swains in shepherd's grey, and girls in Lincoln green." * * Selden, in a note to this passage, says, " Lincoln anciently dyed the best green of England." LIN ( 194 ) LIN And an account of the merry outlaws of Sherwood Forest : " An hundred men had this brave Robin Hood Still ready at his call, that bow-men were right good. All clad in Lincoln green, with caps of red and blue." In a collection of popular ballads called JRobin Hood's Garland (quoted by Nares), Robin Hood himself is shown to have worn it : " Robin Hood took his mantle from his back, It was of Lincoln green, And sent it by this lovely page For a present unto the Queen." But when he went to court he made a distinction : " He cloathed his men in Lincoln green, And himself in scarlet red." In Drayton's Eclogue is another notice of the stuff : " She's in a gown of Lincoln green, Which colour likes her sight." Spenser, in the Faerie Queene, shows a " slender slip " clad in a wood- man's jacket " Of Lincoln greene, belayed with silver lace ;" and Skelton leads us to infer that it was a very durable material. " In her furr'd Socket, And grey russet rocket. Her duke of Lincoln green It had been hers I ween More than forty year, And so it dotb appear. And the green bare threads Look like sea-weeds Withered like hay The wool worn away." LINE. Properly a thread of linen, a small cord ; the twelfth part of an inch, but in denoting the size of pearl buttons taken as the fortieth part of an inch. Such buttons are measured across the diameter to furnish their numerical value [Perkins on Hah ry). Line (>>.), to cover on the inside with linen or other material. LINEN. Clothoflirtt, or flax. (A.-S. linet, Ice. I'm, Ger. loin, L. 1, Gr. Uiion, flax, Ger. Unnen,lemwand, Du. lynwcuti, Fr. toile, It., trie, pannd I'mo, Sp. lienza, tela de lino, Russ. polotm.) This fabric can be conclusively •.raced to the early Egyptians, but though there is a strong presumption that they originated its manufacture, it is yet probable that some of the eastern nations may have made them acquainted with the treatment of ilax. As to its manufacture by the Egyptians there is ample Biblical lence, and the skill acquired in weaving tine linen by the Israelites, as to which so much similar testimony is available, was probably gained during their captivity in Egypt. Beyond this, recent researches prove that the Egyptians were as will acquainted with the processes to which flax is subjected as ourselves, the mural decorations of their temples displaying with startling imnut' ih-sb the implements usod in the culti- ii of Ilax, the treatment of the plant at maturity, and of the fibres, XIN ( 195 ) LIN as well as the subsequent stages of spinning and weaving. Their mummy wrappings, too, show that with their crude machinery and simple appli- ances this ancient people produced linen fabrics far exceeding in fine- ness any cloths which we can produce either by hand labour or with the most modern mechanical improvements. One piece of linen cloth found at Memphis had 540 threads to an inch of the warp. Pliny refers to the remains of a linen corselet presented by Amasis, king of Egypt, to the Rhodians, each thread of which was composed of 365 fibres. ' ' Hero- dotus mentions this corselet, and another presented by Amasis to the Lacedaemonians, which had been carried off by the Samians. It was of linen, ornamented with numerous figures of animals worked in gold and cotton. Each thread of the corselet was worthy of admiration, for though very fine, every one was composed of 360 other threads, all distinct." Herodotus mentions the export to Greece from Egypt, not only of linen stuffs, but of linen yarn. Solomon also received similar consignments; for we are told in the second Book of Chronicles that he had " horses brought out of Egypt, and linen yarn : the king's mer- chants received the linen yarn at a price ; " and the trade in this and the manufactured material continued long afterwards to be the chief feature of Egyptian commerce. The Carthaginians imported from that country, not only fine linens and linen yarns, but flax also ; while the other countries with which they traded — western Europe, the Red Sea cities, and countries on the Levant — do not appear to have in any way inter- fered in this practical monopoly. According to some authorities it is to the Carthaginians that Europe is indebted for knowledge of flax and its manipulation ; but Anderson states that it "came first from Egypt into Greece and Italy, and thence travelled westward to France and Flanders ; next probably into Germany* and England, before it got ground in the more northern and north-east parts of Europe, where it has since prospered very much. " {History of Commerce. ) Linen manu- facture with the Greeks appears to have been more a domestic avocation than a commercial undertaking ; they acted, too, largely as factors in importing and selling again fine linens produced elsewhere. Still the scarlet linen tunics manufactured in the island of Amorgos were highly esteemed, and some very fine cloths of home-grown flax were so precious that they sold for their weight in gold. In Rome again the linen manu- facture did not greatly flourish. It was carried on to a certain extent, stimulated and encouraged by emperors, and even by organized cor- porations of weavers ; but the principal supply was derived from Colchis, Egypt (which yet exported raw flax and yarn), Spain, Gaul, Greece, and Phoenicia. Both with them and the Greeks it was deemed worthy of occupying the females of every household, even those of high rank, although it was, with almost any pursuit save that of war, looked upon as derogatory to men. Pliny, whose account of the trade of that period furnishes nearly all the particulars available, speaks in his natural history in praise of agriculture and gardening, painting, * It is certain that the Germans used in very early times to dress and spin flax, and weave linen cloths ; but whether it was they were jealous of their art being discovered, or whether they were ashamed to have it known that they condescended to labour at the loom, cannot be determined ; however, all this work was secretly done in vaults and caverns, the manufacturers being buried, as it were, under ground. Pliny's Natural History. o 2 !LIN ( 196 ) LIN medicine, and statuary, but passes over merchandise with the simple observation that it was invented by the Phoenicians ; and Cicero, writing to his son on the subject of professions, condemns all trade as mean and sordid, only to be carried on successfully by means of lying. Even the mer- chant, unless he deals very extensively, he views with contempt ; if, however, he imports from every quarter articles of great value and in great abundance, and sells them in a fair and equitable manner, his profession is not much to be contemned, especially if, after making a fortune, he retires from business and devotes himself to agricultural pursuits. (Stevenson.) From these opinions we may readily judge that the Romans would not be eager to follow industrial pursuits, and we know that they chose rather to establish manufactures for their own supply in their colonies than to work at them. To one of these establishments we probably owe the first knowledge of linen weaving in Britain, although, as in the case of woollen cloth, it is possible that our ancestors may have learnt this art from the Gauls, who at that time were, according to Pliny, ' ' famous for their iinen, which they wove with great dexterity, as also cloths to make sails for ships : these were sold to various nations and constituted a great part of their trade." '■ When they had completed their linen in the loom they proceeded to use several arts to make it more soft and beautiful, and to bleach it ; the whole pro- cess, as well as the whiting the flax before it went to the loom, was as follows ; The unspun yarn was put into a great mortar, where it was pounded and beaten in water ; when it was come to a certain whiteness, it was sent to the weaver ; and when it was received again from him made into cloth, it was laid upon a large smooth stone and well beaten with broad-headed cudgels ; the more fre- quently it was beaten and the more labour was bestowed, the softer and whiter the cloth always proved; but very frequently they would mingle the juice of poppies with the water, which they used on these occasions, and that was thought to contribute considerably to the making the linen more white and beautiful. Sometimes they used soap to scour their cloths, which tbey made of the fat of animals and the ashes of certain vegetables ; nay, even the invention of this valuable article is attributed to them." Strutt. The Roman factory in this country was established at Venta Belgarum (now Winchester), where all sorts of linen, as well as woollen cloth, were made. The art here would probably have part in the improve- ment which followed the liberal encouragement given by the Romans to their establishments elsewhere; but at their departure from the island the miseries and distraction which followed would cause it to share, with woollen cloth, in the decay of all industry and manual skill. We have no further notice of this or any kindred calling until after the Conquest, when weaving acquired a new impulse from the weavers who accompanied William I., and who subsequently settled in this country in the reign of his son. In 117o flax and hemp are classed among tithcable productions, showing that their cultivation here had attained some importance, and the manufacture in the succeeding century had so far prospered that Henry III. was able, in 1253, to direct the Sheriffs of Wilts and Sussex to buy for him, each out of his respective county, one thousand ells of line linen, and to send it to his wardrobe at Westminster. The reign of Edward III., with its successive immigrations of Flemish refugees, also greatly benefited the linen manufacture. The iirst guild of linen weavers consisted of these Flemings, and was established by Richard III. in 13S0". We still con- XIN ( 197 ) LIN tinued, however, to need large foreign supplies, deriving them principally from the Netherlands, where the linen trade had already assumed great importance. In 1430, from The Process oj English Policy (a poem reprinted in Hakluyt) Flanders is shown as the mart of Europe, deriving much linen from Bretagne, but supplying fine cloth of Ypres, and of Courtray, and also linen cloth. Herein, too, occurs mention of linen cloth as a staple commodity of Ireland,* a manufacture which can be traced in the records of that country so far back as the 13th century. An Act passed in the 13th year of Elizabeth also carries back Irish linen to this intermediate period, for it is there stated that Irish, merchants had for more than a hundred year3 exported in considerable quantities wool and flax, and woollen and linen yarns ; while Fynes Morrison, secretary to Lord Mount joy, testifies in 1599 that Ireland yields "much flax, which the inhabitants work into yarn, and export in great quantity." Two Acts of Henry VIII. also give authorative facts concerning the progress of the trade in this country. One against forestalling shows that linen yarn was an important article of commerce, and another, passed in 1542, recites that Manchester "is, and hath of long time been, well inhabited, and the inhabitants have obtained, gotten, and come unto riches and wealthy livings, and have kept and set many artificers and poor folks to work within the said town ; and, by reason of the great occupying, good order, and straight and true dealing of the inhabitants, many strangers, as well of Ireland as of m my other places in this realm, have resorted to it with linen yarn, wool, and necessary wares for making of clothes, and have used to trust the poor inhabitants which have not ready rrwney to pay in hand for the said yarns, wools, and wares until, with their industry, labour, and pains, they might make cloths of the said wools, yarns, and other wares, and sell the same to content and pay their creditors, wherein hath consisted much of the common wealth of the said town ; and many poor folks have living, and children, and servants, all these virtuously brought up in honest and true labour, out of idleness." Spenser gives in his JIuiopotmos, 1590, a very close description of the skill which had at that time been attained in weaving, particularly of linens — " Not anie damzell, which her vaunteth most In skilfull knitting of soft silken twyne, Nor anie weaver, which his worke doth boast In dieper, in damaske, or in lyne, Nor anie skil'd in workmanship' embost, Nor anie skil'd in loupes of fingring fine, Might in their curious cunning ever dare With this so curious networke to compare." * Charley, in his contribution on Linen to the series of works on British Manufacturing Industries, speaks of an interesting work on The Irish Linen Trade, hy F. W. Smith, who stoutly maintains therein that we can "trace the origin of the Irish linen manufacture far beyond the dark ages, and centuries hefore the Christian era," and that we can "link its history" here " with the founders of the art in the East." This claim is quite unwarrantable, and is based on some passages in early Irish histories, which assert that the Phoenicians introduced the spindle and loom into Ireland during the period of then- trade supremacy, but even these authorities are by no means distinct upon the sub- ject, and the assumption needs to be ha3ed upon an arbitrary etymology of dubious technical terms. LIN ( 19S ) LIN Skill of another and less creditable kind had also been^attained at this period, for it was found necessary in the first year of Elizabeth's reign (1558) to pass an Act, which set forth that, "Whereas certain evil disposed persons, by sundry devices, stretch linen cloth both in length and breadth, and then with battledores or otherwise beat the same, casting thereupon certain deceitful liquors mingled with chalk and other like things, whereby the cloth is made finer and thicker to the eye., but the threads are thereby loosened and made weak : If any person shall hereafter use the said deceits, or do any other act with any linen cloth whereby it shall be made worse, the said cloth shall be forfeited,, and the offender punished by one month's imprisonment at the least, and pay such fine as the justices shall assess." Other weavers, fleeing from the persecutions of the Duke of Alva, came over in this reign, to the considerable benefit of all textile manu- factures, among which linen is particularly mentioned. In this Ireland had some share. "I caused," wrote, Sir Henry Sydney, the wise Lord-Deputy of Ireland during many years, and the father of Sir Philip Sydney, in a letter to Sir Francis Walsingham — " I caused to plant and inhabit about forty families of the reformed churches of the Low Countries, flying thence for religion's sake, in one ruinous town called Swords ; and truly, sir, it would have done any man good to have seen how diligently they wrought, how they re-edified the quite spoiled old castle of the same town, and repaired almost all the same, and how goodly and cleanly they, their wives and children lived. They made diaper and ticks for beds, and other good stuffs for man's use, and as excellent leather of deer-skins, goat, and sheep fells as is made in Southwark." It is mainly to the energy of the Flemish refugees in its northern counties that Ireland owes the develop- ment of its flax cultivation and its linen manufacture. {Romance of Trade.) It was not, however, until the reign of Charles I. that serious attention seems to have been given to developing the linen manufacture. Some legislation for the purpose had previously been attempted. Both Henry VIII. and Elizabeth had made the cultivation of flax com- pulsory on a certain proportion of land ; but these measures had proved futile. " Perhaps," says Strutt, "it was thought to be more generally- beneficial to procure this article by exchange than to make it at home, especially when the cultivation of hemp and flax was not conceived to be worth the attention of our farmers. Of course, the materials must have been imported, and probably at too high a rate to leave the least hope of obtaining a sufficient profit, after all the expenses were paid, to tempt the trial. How far these were the difficulties that affected the minds of the cloth-workers I cannot pretend to say : but whatever the objections might be, they were obviated by degrees ; the speculation was set on foot ; and the manufacturing of linen appeared, as it were, in a state of infancy about the time that Charles II. ascended the throne of England." {Dress and Habits.) The manufacture still had a certain success at Manchester, where, according to The Merchants' Map oj Commerce, 1641, "the town buys the linen yarn of the Irish in great quantity, and, weaving it, returns the same again in linen into Ireland to sell ; " but it is remarkable that in a treatise on the East Indian trade, published twenty years before, which supplies some valuable particulars LIN ( ( 199 ) LIN of our commerce at that period, do mention occurs of linen as an export. The Charter granted in 1641 to the City by Charles I., among some forty varieties of linen enumerated as imported, curiously enough includes "British cloth; "but this would in all probability be linen brought home after being sent to Holland to be bleached. Many of these varieties are shown again as sent out of the country, and subject to a Paccage rate, most likely on re-exportation ; but among these is shown no linen cloth of English making as an article of foreign commerce ; this does not appear until we meet with the entry in the Book oj Rates of " Linen, viz., all sorts of Cloth made of Hemp or Flax, fine or course, of English manufacture, the piece not exceeding 40 ells, x s ." It is proper here to show from this valuable review of the trade of the period the denominations, lengths, and prices of the varieties then used.* " Callicoes, fine or course, the piece .. .. .. .. .. x s Cam- fthe half piece contaning six ells and a half . . . . . . I 1 bricks C the piece cont. 13 ells .. .. .. .. . . . . ij 1 / Dutch Barras and Hessens Canvas the 100 cont. ells six score . . iij 1 x s French or Normandy Canvas, and Line narrow, brown or white, the hundred ells, containing six score .. .. .. . . vj 1 French Canvas and linebroad for tabling, being an ell and half a quarter or upwards, the 100 ells containing six score .. xvi Packing canvas, guttings, and Spruce canvas, the 100 ells con- taining six score .. .. .. .. ..' .. . . ij 1 x s Poledavies the bolt cont. 28 ells .. .. .,«, .. . . ji Spruce, Elbing, or Quinsborough canvas the bolt containing 28 > I ells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv 3 3 \ Stript or tufted canvas with thread the piece containing 15 yards ij 1 Stript, tufted or quilted canvas with silk the piece cont. 15 yards iv l Stript canvas with copper the piece cont. 15 yards.. .. . . iv Vandelose or Vittery canvas, the 100 ells cont. six score . . . . v l (100 Ells French is 115 English. The lengths uncertain, from 10 to 100 ells.) Working canvas for cushions narrow, the 100 ells cont. six score . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iij 1 Working canvas broad the 100 ells cont. six score . . . . v l Working canvas of the broadest sort, 100 ells cont. six score . . vj 1 ^3 /Tabling of Holland making (39 yards) the yard .. .. . . j 1 «s ) Towelling and Napkening of Holland making (39 yards) the yard vij s | | Tabling of Silesia making (8 yards) the yard . . . . . . iv 3 a ^ Towelling and Napkening of Silesia making (12 yards) the yard i 3 iv d . Tabling of Holland making (about 39 yards) the yard .. . . ixs -J ( Towelling and Napkening of Holland making (39 yards) the yard iij' %, 1 Napkins of Holland making the dozen j' xvj 3 •2 J Tabling of Sletia making (8 yards) iij 3 iv a & \ Tabling and Napkening of Sletia making (12 yards) . . . . j 3 iv d r the half piece cont. six ells and a half (8 yards) j ' « \ the piece containing 13 ells (16 yards) ij 1 5 < voc. Calico lawns the piece {of several lengths from 12 to 26 yards) j 1 vj s viij d ^ i voc. French lawns the piece (8 yards) .. .. .. .. j l x» \_voc. Sletia lawns the piece cont. between 4 and 8 yards. . . . x 3 * Where italics are used it signifies that the quantities so marked have been taken from a table which accompanied the publication of the Booh of Bates for the guidance of merchants and tradesmen. V! BIN ( 200 ) LIN ^3 s-t O Flemish cloth ^ Gentish cloth (i7te whole piece holds 42 eZ?s, cm^ ^7te 7iaZ/ jpiece 21 ells, but if contented 70 £7te?/ are Dutch Aulnes) W j Isingham cloth [from 36 to 38 ells) 4 Overisils cloth (29 ells) ^ the ell v Rouse cloth . . Brabant cloth (18 ells the half piece) Emden cloth (29 ells) Freeze cloth (29 ells) Brown Holland the ell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v s Bagg Holland (29| ells or 30) , v 8 British the 100 ells cont. five score (of several lengths) .. vj 1 xiijs iv J Cowffeild cloth or plats (29 ells) the ell . . . . . . . , . . i 8 viij a Drilling and pack duck the 100 ells cont. six score . . . . . . ij 1 Ebling or Damask cloth double ploy the ell . . . . . . . . i s viijd Hambrough and Sletia cloth broad, the 100 ells cont. an hundred and and twenty, white or brown . . . . . . . . . . . . xi (Silesia cloth 8-4 broad holds 28 ells. JSilesia cloth 7-4 broad holds 33 # 34 ells. But if contented 68 and 72 ells Flemish. Wliite Silesia cloth in blewpapers, small pieces holds 7 ells f and come in chests. White Silesia cloth in half pieces lohich come in chests holds 16 ells A). Samborough cloth narrow the 100 ells cont. six score . . . . . . viij' Hinderlands, Middlegood, headlake, and Muscovia linen, narrow, the 100 ells cont. six score .. .. .. .... ij 1 xiij s ivj (Hinderlands uncertain but have formerly passed at 17, 18, or 19 hundred ells per pack. Muscovia linen uncertain.) Irish cloth the hund. ells cont. six score . . . . . . . . . . ij 1 • w - f treager grest and narrow or common dowlas the piece cont. "| 3 ] 106 ells vi [3 2 Abroad dowlas the piece cont. 106 ells . . . . . „ . . v 1 (LocJcrams, Treagers, Grest, and narrow or common Dowlas holds 104 ells, but in regard by the Booh of Bates they are exprest 106 ells, there hath formerly been alloiced Two per cent, for shortness of measure.) Minsters the roul cont. 1,500 ells at five score to the hundred . .xvji xiij s iv 1 (Pope's Minsters contain 28, 33, 34, 36, and 38 ells.) Ozenbrigs, the roul, containing 1,500 ells at five score to tbe hundred xv 1 (Ozenbrigs are finer Linen* containing English ells gene- rally, sealed with this Impression Ozenburgh.) Soultwich the 100 ells cont. six score . . . . . . . . . . iv 1 Polonia (24 ells) Ulsters, Hannovers, Lubeck {uncertain), narrow Sletia (divers lengtlis), narrow Westphalia (9 ells), narrow Harford, plain napkening (uncertain), and all other narrow cloth of high Dutchland and the East Countrey, white or brown, and not other- wise rated, the hundred ells containing six score . . . . . . iv 1 All Linen of Germany or high Dutchland and Silesia not above three quarters and a half broad, shall be accounted broad, and all above that breadth shall be accounted broad and pay accordingly. Strasborough or Hamborough linen the ell iij* Twill and ticking of Scotland the hundred ells containing six score [uncertain) .« . . .. .. .. iij 1 " * That is, finer than a kind previously described, " Harfords," which ' have »ga3sed for narrow Germany." LIN ( 201 ) LIN The improvement in the English trade which is discernible at this period was mainly due to the efforts of Strafford, Lord Lieutenant of Ire- land, who, in 1636, spent out of his private means, in efforts to promote the linen manufa3ture, an amount variously stated at from £30,000 to £50,000, with which he built factories, brought over Flemish weavers to give instructions in them, and imported seed from Holland, which he sold to farmers without profit. But he lacked the suaviter in moclo necessary to establish such sweeping changes as he advocated, and the measures which he took to enforce his arbitrary decrees — measures which were enforced by severe penalties— provoked much bitterness against him, which found vent at his impeachment. Charles II., in what has been called the reign of proclamations, which left few trades free from interference, passed an Act (15 Gar. II.) "for the encouragement of the manufactories of all kinds of • linen cloth and tapestry made from hemp or flax, by virtue of which any person, either a native or a foreigner, might establish such manu- facture in any place in England or Wales without paying any acknowledgment, fee, or gratuity for the same," as well as another discouraging the importation of similar foreign products. But by an earlier statute he had prohibited the corpse of any person being buried in any shirt, sheet, or shroud mixed with flax, or in any stuff or thing other than such as were made of sheep's wool.* A Return drawn up about this time (1674) of the Imports and Exports of England and France between Michaelmas, 1668, and Michaelmas, 1669, is of considerable historical value. "A Scheme of the Trade, as it is at present carried on between England and France, in the Commodities of the Native Product and Manufactures of each Country, calculated as exactly as possible in obedience to the commands of the Eight Honourable the Commissioners for the Treaty of Commerce with France, and humbly tendered to their Lordships. Imported into England from France, 60,000 Pieces of Lockram and Dowlas, at £6 per piece. 17,000 Hund. of Vitry and Noyals Canvas, at £6 per hund. 5,000 Hundred of Normandy Canvas, at £7 per hund. 2,500 Pieces of Quintins, at 10s. per piece. 1,500 Pieces of dyed Linen, at £1 per piece. 7,604 Yards of Diaper Tabling, at 2s. per yard. 33,896 Yards of Diaper Napkenning, at Is. per yard. 1,376 Dozen of Buckram, at £2 10s. per doz. 1,200 Bolts of Poldavis, at 15s. each. 2,820 Pairs of old Sheets, at 5s. per pair." It would perhaps be better at this point to give separate consideration to the manufacture in each of the three kingdoms, giving precedence to Ireland, the true seat of the linen trade. Anderson, under date 1670, says that " at this time, or perhaps a little later, the linen manufacture began to be encouraged in Ireland. It began amongst the Scots in the north of Ireland, where it has to this * In 1686 James VII. of Scotland enacted that no corps of any persons whatever shall be buried in any shirt, sheet, or anything else, except in plain linen cloth, or cloth of hards (tow), made and spun within the kingdom, under a penalty of £300 (Scots) for a nobleman, and £200 (Scots) for each other person. LIN ( 202 ) LIIST day flourished more than in any other part." The condition of the trade was at that time undoubtedly promising ; in 16^3 Sir William Temple averred "that if the spinning of flax were encouraged, we should soon beat both the French and the Dutch out of the English market ; !; but the French themselves gave the impulse to which the true rise of the Irish linen trade may be attributed. By the revocation of the Edict of Xantes the best of their artisans — the Huguenots — were driven beyond the borders. Xot only was one competitor thus summarily checked, but Irish production was directly stimulated by the arrival of a number of the refugees seeking shelter, many of whom settled in the neighbourhood of Lisburn, and soon made its brown linens famous. In 1696 was passed an Act for encouraging the linen manufacture of Ireland, and bringing in of flax and hemp, and the making of sail-cloth in this kingdom "might in a great measure be prevented by being supplied from Ireland, if such proper encourage- ment were given as might invite foreign Protestants to settle.'"' It was hereby enacted "that hemp, flax, and linen, and its thread and yarn, might be freely imported into England by natives of England and Ireland, custom free, being of the growth and manufacture of Ireland." For the further encouragement of Irish linens, their woollens were crashed by an Act of 169S, passed at the instance of the English Houses of Parliament, who begged the king to cultivate the joint interest of both kingdoms, "whereby they would enrich themselves, and be beneficial to England at the same time." It is to be feared that the measure was more dictated by selfishness than benevolence, since it is stated at this period that the increase of Irish woollens had given umbrage to the English ; but it must still be admitted that subsequent enactments have been designed to further Irish trade. "It is but justice, however, to the Parliament and Government of England," says McCulloch, ' ' to state that they have never discovered any backward- ness to promote the linen trade of Ireland ; which from the reign of William III. has been the object of regulation and encouragment." As an immediate result of the legislative invitation, a number of French refugees, with one man of eminence, Louis Crommelin, came over in 1699, settling principally at Belfast. Crommelin was at once chosen as their chief by the exiles, and with much energy and a lavish expenditure he introduced improved machinery and instituted a system of supervision over the whole industry. For his outlay it was arranged that he should be paid an annuity of £S00 per annum for twelve years ; but on the death of William, and the accession of Anne, this grant was stopped, his services being acknowledged through the Board of Trustees of the linen manufacture, appointed by an Act of the 9th year of her reign, by a declaration through the Duke of Ormond that "Louis Crommelin and the Huguenot colony have been greatly instrumental in improving and propagating the flaxen manufacture iu the north of the kingdom, and the perfection to which the same has been brought in that part of the country has been greatly owing to the skill and industry of the said Crommelin." The Board of Trustees took ample measures to secure good work, inspecting and sealing through their subordinates all linen piece goods, a heavy penalty being exacted for exposing for sale unsealed linen. The purchaser, in cases of misrepresentation or faulty fabrics, could recover compensation from LIN ( 203 ) LOT the seal master, who in turn exacted it from the weaver. The "seal masters were, however, discovered taking bribes, juries were subsequently appointed to ex amine the work passed by them, and in cases where the collusion was discovered the linen was cut to prevent its sale, and the seal masters heavily fined. The bounty system, which ultimately became so prominent in the commercial creed of the country, was taken up by this Board in 1743. The increase thus caused was so rapid that although a Parliamentary grant of £6,000 was first required, by 1777 some £33,000 was annually being paid in Ireland alone on linens, and nearly one-tenth of the whole production of the country, was thus artificially supported. The export from England of Irish linen rose from 40,907 yards, in 1743, to 1,039,967 yards in 1753, and 2,5SS,564 in 1763 ; and the import of Irish linen into England from 6,418,375 yards in 1743 to 17,876,617 in 1773, with a proportionate decrease in the import and export of foreign linens. These bounties were gradually reduced and finally abolished in 1830. They sometimes caused much national ill-feeling. In 1785 Ireland complained of the bounty given by Great Britain on the export of sail-cloth to Ireland, complaining principally because it affected a branch of her linen manu- facture. It was proposed to counteract ' by duties or regulations all bounties given on export to Ireland, where she has similar manufactures ; ' but the British checkmated this move by adding as much to their bounties as Ireland should at any time impose as a duty on import." We come now to the introduction of machinery!* which has caused the acreage under flax in Ireland to increase from 50,000 in 1812 to 300,000, and multiplied her manufacture of linen sevenfold. Mill-spinning com- menced in Belfast in 1830. Turning to Scotland, we find that she also derived benefit from the immigration of French refugees early in the 17th century, when, at the invitation of the Board of Trustees, formed in 1727, one Nicholas d'Assaville came over, accompanied by a little colony of weavers, who settled in a spot still known as Picardy Place. This Board pursued a like course with that of Ireland, giving considerable bounties, which in some cases were as high as l^d. on every yard exported. The British Linen Company — an important factor in Scotland's improvement — was founded in 1746 by a number of peers and eminent gentlemen and mer- chants, which, with a stock of £150,000, proposed " to supply British merchants trading to Africa and the American plantations with the like kinds of linen cloth as they were before obliged to purchase of foreign nations." In 1751 an Act was passed allowing exceptional privileges to all weavers of flax or hemp who could be induced to settle there. The increase of Scottish trade at this period was very marked. In 1669 it was thought a wonderful thing that 23,680 pounds weight of linen had been brought to London from the north. In the five years from 1728 to 1732, both included, there were made and stamped 17,441,161 yards of linen : 1733 to 1737 23,734,136 yards. 1738 to 1742 23,366,863 „ 1743 to 1747 28,227,086 „ Four years, 1748 to 1751 30,172,300 „ while this amount, showing stamped linen only, did not includ XIN ( 204 ) LIN large quantity necessarily manufactured for home consumption. In 1753 another Act was passed for encouraging and improving the manu- factory of linen in the Highlands of Scotland, which, because some pro- gress had been made in the linen manufactures there, placed a sum of £3,000 annually for nine years at the disposal of the Board of Trustees, stipulating that no part of it should be applied to any other use than for instructing and exciting the inhabitants of that part of Scotland to raise, prepare, and spin flax and hemp, to be used in the manufacture of coarse linens, and to weave yarn there spun into such linen ; and for providing the inhabitants with fit materials and utensils for those purposes; and for distributing rewards and prizes to the growers, pre- parers, spinners, weavers, and other manufacturers, in respect rather to the quantity or excellence of the flax or hemp so prepared, or of the yarn so spun, wove, or otherwise manufactured, and for such other like uses the commissioners may think proper. The subsequent progress of the industry in the Land o' Cakes may be best traced in the advance of Dundee, which supplanted Lanarkshire as the seat of the trade, so that, though Lanarkshire in 1727 contributed 272,000 to the total of 2, 103,000 yards of linen stamped in Scotland, in 1S22, the year before the abolition of the Scottish Board of Manufacturers, Lanarkshire only contributed 22,869 vards as against the 22,629,000 yards of Dundee to a total of 36,268,000" yards. The linens of Dundee were in 1742 stated to be " the poorest and meanest r ' of any produced in Scotland, and there is thus the more interest in its advance to the foremost town in that respect of the country. " The manufacture appears to have been introduced into Dundee some time towards the beginning of last century; but, for a lengthened period, its progress was comparatively slow. In 1745 only 74 tons of flax were imported, without any hemp ; the shipments of linen cloth during the same year being estimated at about 1,000,000 yards, no mention being made either of sail-cloth or bagging. In 1791, tbe imports of flax amounted to 2,444 tons, and those of hemp to 299 tons ; the exports that year being 7.842,000 yards linen, 280,000 yards sail-clotb, and 65,000 do. bagging. From this period the trade began to •extend itself gradually, though not rapidly. Previously to the peace of 1815, no great quantity of machinery was employed in spinning ; but about this period, in consequence, partly and principally, of the improvement of machinery, and its extensive introduction into the manufacture, and partly of the greater regularity with which supplies of the raw material were obtained from the Northern powers, the trade began rapidly to increase. Its progress has, indeed, been quite astonishing; the imports of flax having increased from about 3,000 tons in 1814 to 15,000 tons in 1S30. The exports of manufactured goods have increased in a corresponding proportion. During the year ended the 31st of May, 1831, there were imported into Dundee 15,010 tons of flax, and 3,082 do. hemp ; and there were shipped off 366,817 pieces, being about 50,000,000 yards, of linen; 85,522 pieces, or about 3,500,000 yards, of sail- cloth; and about 4,000,000 yards of bagging— in all, about 57,500,000 yards ! In the year ending the 31st of May, 18:53, the imports of ilax amounted to 1 -.777 tons, besides 3,380 tons of hemp. The shipments of linens, sail-cloth, &c, have increased in a corresponding ratio ; and were valued, in the year now mentioned, at about 1,600,000/." McCullocii : Dictionary of Commerce. The progress of the manufacture in England has not been so striking, principally, no doubt, on account of the cotton trade to a large extent monopolizing fresh capital, and still more because the natural advan- LIN ( 205 ) LIN" tages to be found in the sister kingdoms are here only seldom met with. Taking up the thread of our discourse, we find the trade with France in linens peremptorily stopped in 1678, but in 1685 James II. obtained a repeal of the Prohibitory Act . The manufacture here at that period had greatly declined, our supplies being mainly derived from Ireland and Holland. A scarce tract, published in 1680, entitled Britannia Langnens, speaking of linen, says : " I shall first instance in Linnen, lately a considerable manufacture in Cheshire, Lancashire, and the Parts adjacent; it was also the Huswifery of our English Ladies, Gentleioomen, and other Women, (although most designed for the private Uses of Families) did keep very many Thousands of Linnen Looms at work in England, and did supply the greatest part of our Household and Coarse Linnens of all sorts. 4i But all this manufacture oiLinnen in Cheshire, Lancashire, and elsewhere is now in. a manner expired; and the Huswifely Women of England now employ themselves in making an ill sort of Lace, which serves no National nor Natural Necessity; most of the rest spend their times much worse, or are idle, bringing a Scandal on themselves and their Families ; so that there is hardly a working Linen Loom left ina County." This account only relates to two or three counties, but it is an indu- bitable fact that the linen trade of the country generally at that period suffered neglect. In 1698 one of many schemes promising large results was introduced by one Dupin, who, according to Anderson, "was in- strumental in advancing the manufactures of fine linen, thread, tape, and lace," bat only to a very small extent, \T the remarks passed thereon are rightly estimated. In fact, Anderson says, with respect to the linen manufacture, more especially in the south parts of England, it is probable " it never will prove very successful; neither perhaps is it for England's benefit that it should succeed there, since it might not a little interfere with our ancient and noble woollen manufactures, and also with the silk and steel ones, by diverting our workmen therefrom;" and would perhaps, in that author's opinion, lower the price of lands I It is remarkable, as showing the trade most susceptible of improve- ment, that during the South Sea Bubble against two companies started for making sail-cloth in Ireland there were either founded or proposed for England two for raising Hemp and Flax, two for importing Hollands and Lace, two for simply making Sail-cloth, as well as one for borrowing of Money and Purchasing of Lands, for making of Sail-cloth and fine Hol- land, and another to confirm a Patent for making Linen and Sail-cloth, with an additional power to carry on the Silk and Cotton Manufactures. The practice of irrigating the dry and thirsty land with premiums was also tried here, and in 1745 an Act for allowing certain additional bounties on the Exportation of British and Irish linens provides, ' ' That whereas the linen manufactures of Britain and Ireland are of late years greatly improved and increased — whereby the price of linens, as well of foreign as of home fabric, hath been considerably reduced — a further bounty upon exportation is hereby enacted of one halfpenny per yard on linen of the value of 5d. and not exceeding 12d. per yard ; and of three halfpence per yard for linen from above 12d. to Is. 6d. per yard." In the same year a penalty of £5 was attached to the wearing or selling of French lawns or cambricks, and three years later this pro- vision was likewise extended to include all milliners who made up such XIN ( 206 ) LIN cambricks. Acts of 1735 and 1740 had been passed to encourage the manufacture of sail-cloth, and now in 1746 another with a like purpose provided "that all foreign-made canvas or sail-cloth imported, usually- entered by the name of Holland's Duck, or Vitry Canvas, fit for ship's sails, and for which duties are payable, should be stamped as such on its importation, to prevent its passing for British-made sail-cloth " on pain of forfeit, and with a penalty of £50 for importing it. "And that every ship or vessel which shall be built in Great Britain and in His Majesty's Plantation in America shall, upon her first setting out, or being first navigated, have or be furnished with one full and complete set of new sails, made of sail-cloth manufactured in Great Britain," under a penalty of fifty pounds. But all nursing and coddling, all checking of healthy competition, did not one tithe as much good for our linen manufactures as the unaided efforts of one man, who, com- mencing life as a shop-boy, became one of the foremost flax manufacturers in the kingdom. This was John Marshall, who started, with two partners, a small mill at Meanwood, near Leeds, and who did for English produce what the Mulhollands did for Belfast, and the Baxters for Dundee. By untiring exertions, keen foresight, and ready enterprise- in adopt- ing improvements, these three firms have become pre-eminent in the trade. The nature of flax for a long period prevented the mechanical appliances which changed the face of the cotton manufacture being applied to it. Indeed, Lord Sheffield, writing in 1785, predicted that " the aid that has been given to labour in the cotton manufacture by machinery is not likely to be applied to the linen manufacture in any great degree." But attendant difficulties have been overcome by suc- cessive modifications of existent machinery, but there is still room for improvement, in that hand-loom work retains supremacy in fine quali- ties over power-loom work. "Mr. "William Charley, in his well-known work on Flax and its Products, shows clearly the causes of the decay of hand-spinning and the survival of hand-loom weaving : ' A power-loom can turn out about two webs of 60 yards each per week, and one woman can attend to two looms, producing at least four web3 a week. This production is probably four times the amount produced by the hand-looom weaver, as four or five yards per day of linen would keep him very busy indeed. This is not equal, however, to the saving of labour in the spinning process. A spindle, though in reality not much quicker than a hand-spinning wheel, never tires, and therefore would produce in a week nearly double what a women could turn off her wheel, while one girl in the mill can attend to 160 spindles. To spin by female fingers the yarn that Ireland alone could now produce in her mills would require therefore 1,303,744 women expressly devoted to the task. The enormous saving of ex- pense, and the great regularity of production ensured by mill-spinning, at once made the transition from the hand-spinning wheel an unavoid- able necessity. The saving by power-looms not being so great, the transition state will likely be lengthened over a prolonged period.' ' [Flax and 'its Products la Ireland.) LINSEY WOOLSEY (of linen and wool). Cloth of linen and woollen mixed together of different and unsuitable parts ; vile, mean. Bailey. XIS ( 207 ) LIS Said to be so called from having been first made at Linsey in Suffolk. Skelton, poet laureate in the time of Henry VIII., in a satire directed against Cardinal Wolsey, entitled, Wliy come you not to Court ? cites the stuff, possibly with a double significance : " To weave all in one loom, A webb of lynse wulse." An interesting document included in the Calendar of State Papers sets forth an appeal made to ' ' The ryght honrable Sr. William Cecill Knyght, her maties principall secretary," to allow the petitioners to occupy his house and some adjacent land at Stamford. They thank the Secretary for the great aid that we the " Pelegrynes (Pilgrims) and straungers of the Doche nacon have had" for his goodness to offer unto them " priviledge in Stamford for divers households, & in a house to in- habit in, for which offer they give him hartie thankes." There were to be only 10 households or thereabouts & the petition states that unless there be 20 at the least they should not be able to maintain a preacher, which they of the sort have where any company of them shall dwell. The petition reminds the Secretary that of his own knowledge the same town is inconveniently distant either from London or the sea. Their suit is first to have the house well repaired with the "con- dit " (conduit) amended, and to have also 2 or 300 acres of ground at reasonable rent to plant with " hoppes & other comodities for our better mayntenance of living there," and that as, they shall think meet, if the said house be not big enough for them, they may without damage take other houses & ground in the same town or Hear hereunto by lease or otherwise. ' ' These are the arts we think most fit to go together & that we will promise to our best to dwell there ; Lynsey weavers ; Tike weavers ; Silk weavers ; Lynsey wolsey weavers ; Flanders cloth wollen ; Fresado (a kind of woollen) ; Sackcloth, Tapestry and Arrass, & other like, which your honour shall think most meet to dwell there." This letter is endorsed : 22 Junij 1567. The request of doche strangers to be placed at Stamford. The stuff appears as an export in 1641, and in the Lord Mayor's pageant for 1664, one of the characters in the emblematic show was "habited like a grave citizen, according to the ancient manner, in trunk-hose, stockings ty'd cross above and below the knee, a sattin doublet, close coat gathered at the waist, a set ruffe about his wrist, a broad brimm'd hat, a large cypresse hat-band, gold girdle and gloves hung thereon, rings on his fingers, and a seal ring on his thumb ; a blew linsey-wolsey apron wrapt about his middle." Defoe says that it is a stuff " for hanging and printing, chiefly made at Kidderminster." " A lawless linsey-woolsey brother, Half of one order, bait' another." Butler : Hudibras, 1663. " Pull'd, patch' d, and pyebald, linsey-woolsey brothers, Grave mummers ! sleeveless some, and sbirtless others. " Pope : Dunciad, 1728. LIST. A stripe or border of cloth ; a row or line ; a catalogue or roll. (A.-S. list, Fr. Uste, It. lista, Ger. leiste, old Ger. lista, stripe, border.) Also literally denotes a girdle, a line enclosing a piece of LOG ( 20S ) LOC ground, esp. for combat : — Lists, the ground enclosed for a contest. — To enter the lists, to engage in contest. (Fr. lice, It. lizza, liccia — L. licia, plural of licium, a girdle.) Donald. "List,* in the manufactures, denotes the border of a stuff, or that which bounds its width on each side. All cloths and stuffs of silk, wool, or cotton have lists ; lists contribute to the goodness of the stuff, and further serve to show their quality, which has given occasion to several regulations relating to their manner, colour, work, &c." E. Chambers : Cyclopaedia, 1741. " Then with uplifted hands, and eyes devout, Grateful to heaven, over his head beholds A dewy cloud, and in the cloud a bow, Conspicuous with tbree listed colours gay." Milton : Paradise Lost. " The very list, the utmost bound, of all our fortunes." Henry IY. " A list the cobbler's temple ties, To keep the hair out of his eyes." Swift. LOCKE AM. A linen said to have been originally manufactured at Locronan, in Brittany, and thence to have derived its name. Although generally of a coarse quality, we may infer that relatively finer qualities were made. Nares gives several illustrative extracts from the works of the contemporaries of Shakespeare : " To poor maidens' marriages I give per annum two hundred ells of lockram, That there be no strait dealings in their linnens, But the sails cut according to their burthens." Beaumont and Fletcher : Spanish Curate. " Thou thought' st because I did wear lockram shirts I bad no wit." Glapthorne : Wit in a Constable. " Let all the good you intended me, be a lockram coif, a blue gown, and a clean whip." Brome : Northern Lass. " That is, give me the dress and discipline of a woman in Bridewell. I can wet one of my new lockeram napkins with weeping." Greene : Never Too Late. " His ruffe was of fine lockeram, stitched very fair with Coventry blue." Ib. : Vision. Shakespeare himself mentions the stuff in Coriolanus : " The kitchen malkin pins Her richest lockram 'bout his reeky neck, Clamb'ring the walls to eye him." Lockram appears to have been about Sd. an ell in the 16th century. We find "6 ells of lokram for lucrece " (Lucretia, companion to a female Court-fool of Henry YIII.'s Court) charged 3s. 10d., and " It" payed to M u launder for vij ells of Lokrum and a skayne of silk, iiij' iiiji. * Du Cange derives the word from liciee, which, in the age of corrupt Latin, ■ i f'>r the inclosnres of fields and cities, as being antiently made with cords interlaced ; or from ligta quia catnpum claudebant ifutarlistarumpanni ; losing the ground alter the manner that a list does a piece of cloth. LOO ( 209 ) LUS In the 2l3t of Henry VIII. an Act was passed "concernynge lynnen cloth called dowlas and lockerams," to prevent the importation of these articles from Brittany, where they were manufactured, unless each piece was of the limited length, breadth, and assize, viz., in every whole piece five elles in length and one yard in breadth, upon pain of forfeiture. France naturally resented this attempt to dictate the fashion in which her linens should be made up, and refused to sell us linens of those dimensions, "and as," says Anderson, "those linen cloths were used to be paid for . by English woollen cloths exported to Brittany, whereby great numbers of our weavers, tuckers, spinners, dyers, wool- pickers, &c, were constantly employed," the obnoxious statute wa3 repealed by another passed seven years later. See Dowlas. LOOM. Literally an utensil, from the Anglo-Saxon loma, furniture, utensils. Dr. Brewer again shows his ingenuity in deriving this word from John Lombe, who erected the first silk weaving mill at Derby. It ought not to be necessary to confute such a statement, but as it appears to be seriously advanced, so it may be seriously denied. Instances innumerable as to the antiquity of the loom might be given, but one shall suffice. " Thomas Wattes, of Wurstede, whose will is dated August 12, 1506, bequeaths to eche of the gyldes, the Trinitie gilds, our Lady's gylds, Saint James gild, in the said town of Wurstede, a quarter of malt and four bushells of whete, and' to the G-ylde of Saint Thomas Martyr three shillings and fourpsnce," ajid leaves to his wife ' ' my lomys and the warpe that is thereon, and all warpe and stuffe that i3 unwoven." The mill of Lombe was not erected until 1718. LUSTRING (Fr. lustrine, It. lustrino), popularly corrupted into lutestring, a lustrous or bright silk much used in the last century for ladies' dresses, introduced into this country by the French refugees who tied here after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. In the fourth year of William and Mary the importation of this and the kindred fabric alamode was practically stopped by the heavy duties then imposed upon all such stuffs of foreign manufacture, and in the same year the persons engaged in the manufacture in this country were incorporated by charter under the title of the Royal Lustring Company. Their trade was still further protected in the following year, 1693, by the prohibi- tory duties being considerably enhanced. The author of a pamphlet en- titled Anglice Tutamen ; or, the Safety of England, written in 1695, with, the intention of discountenancing a great variety of joint-stock trading companies, which were then much patronized by the public, makes exceptions in favour of some few incorporations, and mentions among these the Royal Lustring Company as having thriven greatly to the advantage of the manufacturing industry of the kingdom. In 1698 the Lustring Company obtained an Act of Parliament wherein the preamble set forth : "That the said Company have with great labour and charge brought that manufacture to perfection : but that, by reason of the fraudulent importation of foreign alamodes and lustrings the Company have not enjoyed the benefit intended them by the royal charter; but have wasted their time and stock in . contending with many difficulties and obstructions which they have since met with. And it now appearing that the said manufacture cannot be so well conducted and secured to England by any other means, than the establishing LYN ( 210 ) LYN" of an Exclusive Company for the same : — it was therefore now enacted, First, That the said Company be a perpetual Corporation, with the usual powers, Szc, of a body politic, as in their charter. Secondly, That they shall enjoy the sole use, exercise, and benefit of making, dressing, and lustrating of plain black alamodes, renforcez, and lustrings in England and Wales for fourteen years to come." "All which, however, could not support even this monopoly, when the fashion changed ; new fabrications driving out the former general wear of those otherwise pretty and glossy silks. So that the company had run out their stock, and was quite broke up, even before the expiration of their said exclusive term; which, therefore, was not renewed." (Anderson.) Their charter was, however, revived and foisted upon the public during the South Sea Company mania with such success that we find it noted as a particularly inflated stock even amongst other notorious bubbles. Its stock in a short period rose from £5 2?-. to £105, and it was only finally extinguished by a comminatory order of the Lords Justices. Lutestrings, probably ribbons, formed an' article of import in the time of Charles II., when they appear thus in the Book of JRates: u T , , . J Catlings, the groce cont. 12 dozen knots. 2s. 81. ljUtestrmgs t Minikins, the groce, cont. 12 dozen, £1 6s. Sd." A narrow unedged ribbon is still known iu the trade as lutes. " Within my memory the price of lutestring is raised above twopence in the yard." Spectator, No. 21. " There goes Mrs. Roundabout : I mean the fat lady in the lutestring trollopee." Goldsmith : Essays, No. 15. " Lost, January 24, 16S0, a black flowered lutestring mantowe gown betwixt six and nine at night between the Savoy and York Garden and Long Acre." * The Protestant Domestick Intelligencer, 1680. See Alamode. LYNX SKINS (Ger. luchsfelle, Du. losvellen, Da. losskind, Sw. los- Ic'nin, Fr. peaux de lynx on de loup cervier, It. pdli di lince, Sp. pieles de lince ou de lobos cervales, Port, pules de lince o de lobo <•> rvai) are of a grey colour, more or less approaching to a black, according to the climate which the animal inhabits. The darkest shade is on the back, and the hue becomes gradually lighter downwards to the belly, which is white, and marked with black spots, as are the other parts on the skin. The hair is longest on the belly, and is therefore most fre- quently employed by furriers in the manufacture of muffs. The lynxe is common in Sweden, Russia, Poland, and upon the Alps ; those which inhabit the latter region are not very dissimilar to the others, but their fur is less soft and beautiful. These animals are likewise to be met with in most parts of North America. Those of Canada and the neigh- bouring districts are of a very deep grey colour ; but such as inhabit the vicinity of Hudson's Bay are almost white, on which account their skins are highly valued. EtOKALD SMITH. " A Turquey pnwn of new making (new fashion) of black velvet, with * •• Lustring pe ticoats" arc mentioned in an sdvertitexrentof *] parel rtolen iiom a Mrs. ILmkisscnin 1660, tnd quote I in M&lcoll&'f Manners and < 'ustoms. XYR ( 211 ) MAN two small guards (borders) of silver, furred with leuzernes (skins of the lynx) having seventy-seven round buttons of gold, black enamelled," is the description of a gown made for Henry VIII. LYRE, Cloth of. A 15th-century cloth. This is the fullest description that can be given of the stuff, nothing having been found throwing any light upon its character or its title. We may infer that it was of good quality, since two pieces of it are included in a list of articles permitted in 142S to be exported duty free for the use of the King of Portugal and the Countess of Holland. Two years later, under like circumstances, ii >e yards were sent to King James of Scotland. MANILLA HEMP. See Abaca. MANTEAU, Manto, Mantua. A loose gown worn by women, instead of a strait-bodied coat. Bailey. Immediately from the Fr. manteau, a cloak, and applied to a covering or upper garment or vest, a gown (worn by women). Richardson". A lady's cloak or mantle ; a lady's gown (Fr. manteau, It. manto, or from Mantua in Italy). Donald. The mantle known as mantua is said to have been intro- duced here by Henrietta, queen of Charles I., who is also credited with the hrst introduction of female labour in clothing the outer woman. Mantua-making thereafter became a common female occupation, and, indeed, the term came to comprise all kinds of dressmaking. " He presents him with a white horse, a manto, or black coole (cowl), a pas- iorai staff, the country over which these immense flocks are passing ; the free sheep-walk which the landlords are forced to keep open interferes with enclosure and good husbandry ; the commons, also, are so completely * A draft from this flock \v:is given to John M'Arthur, " the father of New Zealand ; " bat this was not the first attempt to introduce the merino into that oolonv, ai M'Arthur had himself procured three rams and Ave ewes of pure breed in 17'.t7, and grafted them on the native variety. 3MCES ( 221 ) MET eaten down that the sheep of the neighbourhood are for a time half- starved. The sheep know as well as the shepherds when the procession has arrived at the end of its journey. In April their migratory instinct renders them restless, and if not guided they set forth unattended to the cooler hills. In spite of the vigilance of the shepherds, great num- bers often escape ; if not destroyed by the wolves, there is no danger of losing these stragglers, for they are found in their old pasture, quietly awaiting the arrival of their companions." The shearing takes place during the journey. Merinos have been from time to time introduced into nearly every sheep-raising country of Europe, to the manifest improvement of the fleece in every case. The manufacture of the stuff called merino is only of comparatively recent introduction. James, in his History of the Worsted Manufactures, gives a full account of the incidence of its rise : "The wearing of worsted stuffs, after many changes of fashion, had again (1826) become very common amongst people of every degree in England. But it was perceived, as the taste for fabrics of fine texture increased, that plain - backs and other worsted articles of that kind were not sufficiently delicate in structure for the higher classes. This idea having been men- tioned by one of the partners in the house of Messrs. Todd, Morrison, and Co., warehousemen, London, to Messrs. Mann, of Bradford, merchants, the latter began to reflect on the best method of supplying the void. It occurred to them that a plainback made of the finest yarn, and spun from merino or other fine wool, would answer the object. Accordingly they employed Messrs. Garnett, of Bradford, to spin the yarn and manufacture such a stuff, who accomplished the task to the full satisfaction of their employers. Some beautiful pieces were the result, three-quarter wide, made from 40's to 52's weft, and 32's to 38'a warp, and woven like a plainback, which in every respect they re- sembled, except in being finer. From the period of their introduction these stuffs pleased the public, and were rapidly sold at high prices. They were originally sold at from 75s. to 80s. the piece ; but when the article became known many manufacturers entered into competition, and making lower sorts, reduced the price to 40s. to 50s., according to qualities. "About a year after the full introduction of the three-quarters merino into the market it was found that, owing to the narrowness of the piece, it did not cut up conveniently and economically for dresses, and the six- quarter variety of merino was brought into the market, where it for many years had a large demand, bringing in some instances as much as 120s. a piece." The French attained such excellence in imitating these fabrics that nearly all merinos now sold are styled French, although compara- tively few of them come from France, and our own manufacturers are quite able to turn out as excellent a quality of merino as their rivals. MESSELLAWNY. A 17th-century stuff. METRE. Poetical measure ; a French measure of length. "Afj a system of weights and measures constructed on strictly scientific principles, the metric system may justly claim pre-eminence over all others. It was established upon the fundamental basis of the mitre, its primary unit of length, having its length found iu a MIL ( 222 ) MIL determinate decimal ratio to one of the largest natural constants, that is to say, equal to the ten-millionth part of the earth's meridian quadrant. It includes a fixed relation between the units of weight and capacity, the .kilogramme and the litre, and the unit of length, the metre, from which both are derived ; and it comprehends a uniform decimal scale of multiples and parts of these units. . . . The true length of the metre was finally determined by Captain Kater to be 39 '37079 British inches. Ever since this period, this authoritative equivalent of the metre in imperial measure has been recognized as the true equivalent, and it received the sanction of Parliament, in the Act of 1S64, for legalizing contracts made in this country in terms of the metric system. It is, however, to be observed that it is the scientific equivalent of the jnetre in imperial measure, when each standard is taken at its own normal temperature. For all commercial purposes, on the other hand, the measure of a metre is always used at ordinary temperatures, just as a yard measure is used, and the comparison of the two should therefore be more properly made at the same average temperature of 62 deg. F. At such temperature a brass metre is equal 39 "382 inches, and this length is to be taken as the true commercial equivalent of the metre in British measure. Of course, this difference between the equivalent in imperial measure at its legal and of its ordinary temperature, amounting only to totto" inch, is perfectly immaterial in commercial measurements of small quantities, and the metre may safely be estimated as equal to .39 1 of our inches, and the decimetre at 3 '94 inches." H. W. Chisholm : Weighing and Measuring . MILK AND WATER. A stuff under this strange designation appears in 16th-century inventories, but we have no guide as to what determined its title. In the stock of Richard Gurnell, a Kendal clothier, 1555, appears " xj yards of mylke and watter, ISs ;" and again, John Wilkenson, of Newcastle, had in hand at the time of his death, 1571, " j piece of niylk and watter, £1 2s." MILLINER. So called from Milaner, one from Milan ; or millenarius, because he deals in a thousand articles. It is perhaps mistlener, from mistlen or mistlin, a medley or mixture. One who deals in a mixed variety of articles. Todd's Johnson. Supposed to be originally a dealer in Milan wares, but no positive evidence has been produced in favour of the deiivation. Wedgwood. One who makes head-dresses, bonnets, &c, for women. (Milaner, a native of Milan, famous for its manufactures of silk and ribbons.) Donald. In the Privy Purse Expenses oj Henry VIII. there is an item entered of £3 9s. paid to "the mylloner for certeyne cappes trymmed and garnissed with botons of golde," a transaction which would be quite in keeping with a modern milliner's business ; but, as Nicolas says, "A mylloner of the 16th was evidently a different sort from the milliner of the 19th century, for besides caps, bonnets, and gloves, he then sold knives, sheaths, girdles, jewels, SO." In the accounts just quoted the derivation of the word from Milan is more distinctly given, for in liber, 1531, one Xpofer, Mylloner, is shown to have sold " i j Myllaiu bonetts for Marke and the Guilliams [Williams] ; " but in the MIN- ( 223 ) MIT previous year we likewise find a " hardwareman " disposing of "a myllain bonet, and a night-cappe for Sexton the fole." " He hath songs for man or woman, of all sizes ; no milliner can so fit his customers with gloves." Winter's Tale. " He was perfumed like a milliner ; And, 'twixt his fingers and his thumb, he held A pouncet box, which ever and anon He gave his nose." 1 Henry IV. " Ask from your courtier to your inns-of-court man, To your meer milliner. Ben Jonson. " To conceal such ornaments as these and shadow their glory, as a milliner's v?ife does her wrought stomacher with a smoky lawn or a black cypress." Id. : Every Man in his Humour, 1596. " Tho' sometimes I injure the milliner's wife, Still I add to her credit and store." Cotton : To a Lady. " The mercers and milliners complain of her want of public spirit." Tatler. " The Milliner must be thoroughly versed in physiognomy ; in the choice of ribbons she must have a particular regard to the complexion." Guardian, JN T o. 149. MINIKIN". A little darling, a small sort of pan ; dim. of minion, a darling or favourite. (Fr. mignon, a darling; old Ger. minni, minnia, love, minhe, my love ; Dutch, minnen, to love. ) Donald. MINK. A fur resembling sable in colour, but shorter and more glossy. MITTEN. Fr. mitaines. Junius derives from mitan, middle, because they are chirothecce veluti dimidiates, leaving the fingers unconfined. Skinner from eremttance, as if peculiarly used by hermits. Menage from rait, a cat, because made of cat's skin. Gloves that cover the arm without covering the fingers. Johnson. Fr. mitaine, miton, a winter glove ; Gael, mutan, a thick glove, a muff, mitag, a glove without lingers. The name seems to have come from Lap. mudda, N. mudd, modd, Sw. lapmeidd, a cloak of reindeer skin ; Fin. muti, a garment of reindeer skin, a hairy shoe or glove. Wedgwood. The term was not restricted to gloves without fingers. Kay inserts " mittens" in his list of south and east country words with the following explanation : " Gloves made of linen or woollen, whether knit or stitched ; sometimes also they call so gloves made of leather without fingers." Halliwell. Mittens have been in use from time immemorial. Piers Plowman's Credi, which is generally attributed to the 14th century, makes men- tion of them : " Tweye myteynes as mater maad al of cloutes, The fyngres weren forward." And, in a metrical tale of the same period, published in Hartshorne's collection (A Tale of King Edward and tlie Shepherd), the countryman on arrayiDg himself to go to Court took care to remember his mittens. ' ' The mytans clutt forgat he nought, The slyng even is not out of his thought, "Wherewith he wrought mastry." MIT ( 224 ) MIT "When he is about to enter the king's court he is directed to leave hi3 mittens and staff, which he stoutly refuses : " ' Nay, fellow,' he said, ' so mot I the, My staff shall never go from me, I wil it kepe in my haDde ; Nor my mytens gets no man While that I them keep can.' " (Fairholt. ) Chaucer also in the Pardoner's Tale brings forward " A mitaine eke, that ye may see : He that his hond wol put in this mitaine, He shal have multiplying of his grayn." The third Shepherd in the Coventry Mystery of the Nativity offers his mittens with an exquisite simplicity to the Infant Redeemer : " Have here my mittens to put on thy hands ; Other treasure have I none to present thee with." And in contradistinction to this picture of peace we have the mitten illustrating the pugnacity of our forefathers, where Holinshed in his Chronicles, treating of the times of Richard II., says : " For the Englishmen in those daies were cats not to he catched without mittens (as Jacob Mier in one place saith)." There are some romantic facts in the history of mittens incidentally recorded by Felkin in his valuable work on Lace and Machine Wrought Hosiery. "About the year 1700 open-work mitts and gloves and hose, ornamented with eyelet holes made by using the work needle or hand ticklers, and which had also been embroidered by hand, were imported into England. These were quickly imitated here, but still by hand." The introduction of an improvement on the hosiery frame by Strutt led to many attempts to make these eyelet ornaments on a like principle. "These efforts were generally carried on with much mystery, for the profit anticipated from success was very great, as the wages obtained by hands making such work were 5s. to 7s. a day if diligent, at a time when meat was only l^d. per lb., and bread in proportion. Amongst these was a stocking maker, named Butterworth. He successfully overcame all obstacles, but was obliged to confide his plan to a working smith, named Betts, before he could get the necessary machinery con- tructed. Eventually a supply of cash became necessary, and was ob- tained from one Shaw, when the original inventor was deliberately set aside. Further funds becoming requisite to procure a patent, the aid and co-operation of John Morris, a hosier, of Nottingham, was procured, and the parties proceeded to take out the patent. Betts then, in the absence of Shaw, made over the entire interest in the patent to Morris. " Shaw having been promised his share of the profits to be realized under the patent, was so chagrined by the transfer to Morris without any remuneration to himself that he proceeded to the Netherlands to set up the manufacture there. He visited the chief places where hosiery and lace manufactures were carried on — Brussels, Lille, Tonrnay, ;uul Valenciennes — but met with no encouragement. At the latter city he saw a widow making mitts and handkerchiefs in imitation of BpanilD open work by the new method . . . by which she was then MOC ( 225 ) MOC miking silk mitts with comparative ease and rapidity ; and he found that they could be thus produced at a lower cost than the tickler mitts, the machinery for which he wished to introduce. He brought the widow and her plan to Mansfield, and as the apparatus cost little, he soon made great progress in its use. But Morris, upon this, having the help of Else's inventive genius in improving his machinery, ruined Shaw by lowering the prices of his tickler-machine wrought goods ;" and so this tale of double-dealing and fraud was brought to a close. MOCK ADO, Mochado. All authorities are agreed that this was a stuff manufactured in imitation of velvet, and indeed it is sometimes plainly styled " mock velvet ; " but it appears to have been not only made of woollen, but of silk also. Cotgrave has " Moccado stuffe, mocayart, silk moccado." If, too, we can literally accept the inference of Taylor, the water poet, in his Praise of Hempseed, it was sometimes made of silk mixed with flax : " Alas ! what would our silk' mercers be, What would they do, sweet Hempseed, without thee ? Rash, taffeta, paropa, and novato, Shag, filizetta, damaske, and mochado." Bailey has " Mockadoes. A sort of woollen stuff for darning weaver's thrums." Mocadoes, double and single or tufted, are mentioned ia 1641, in the Booh of Rates we have " Buffms, Mocadoes ("narrow the single piece not above fifteen yards iiji. andLile Grograms I broad the single piece not above 15 yards ivi x s ;" and in both cases Moccado ends are shown. It would seem from these facts that mockado was a fabric either of woollen or silk on which a pattern was formed with loops, which being afterwards cut, in the same way that velvet was sheared, left the pattern in pile. This might then be a showy stuff of no great value, and would, when the pattern was very full, admit of the adulteration apparently alluded to by Taylor. The stuff was much used during the 16th and 17th centuries. Several pieces of it appear in inventories of the stocks of Thomas Passmore, of Richmond, 1577 ; James Backhouse, of Kirbye-in-Lonsdaile, 1578 ; and John Hudsson, of Newca3tell upon Tyne, 15S2, which are here given : 11 A pece of reed mockadowe, 21s. iiij yeards of duble reed mockadowe, 6s. vj yeards of Mockadow, blacke redd, 93. 6d. xxij yeards of syngle mockadow, 32s. Id. xix yeards of mockadow, blewe and browne. vij yeards of red doble mockadow, 39s. vj yeardes tuft moccado, 10s." Planche thinks this was probably a mixed stuff of silk and wool, the wool predominating in the finer manufacture. In the play of the London Prodigal, Civet says his father wore " a moccado coat, a pair of satin sleeves, and a sattin buck." " My dream of being naked and my skin all overwrought with worke like some kinde of tuft mockado, with crosses blew and red." Doctor Dze's Diary. " Who would not think it a ridiculous thing, to see a lady in her milke- house with a velvet gowne, and at her bridall in her cassock of mockado." PCTTEXHAM. MOD ( 226 ) MOI " Hee wears his apparell much after the fashion ; his means will not suffer him to come too nigh ; they afford him mock -velvet or Satinisco." Oveebuby : Characters, 1614. " Imagine first our rich mockado doublet with our cut cloth of gold sleeves." Ford : Lady's Trial, 1639. MODE. Literally, a measure ; rule ; custom ; form. " Features vary and perplex, Mode 's the woman and the Sex." Fawkes : Odes of Anacreon, 1755. MOHAIR. The fine silken hair of the Angora goat of Asia Minor ; cloth made of mohair. Of Mojacar, an Indian word. Bailey. A corruption of the German mohr (a Moor). It is the hair of the Angora goat, introduced into Spain by the Moors, and thence brought into Germany. Brewer. (Fr. moire, OldFr. mohere, It. cambellotto, panno di peli di camello, Ger. mohr, haartch, Sp. mue, camelote, P. chamalote, melania, Du. Tcemelshaar, Da. kameelgarn, Sw. moire, Jcamlott, Russ. morr, Pol. mora. In the Merchant's Map of Commerce, 1638, occurs the first distinct mention we have of the importation of " Mohairs of Angora," and they are there shown as exclusively brought here by the Turkey Company ; but the material was in all probability known for full a century before, when Turkey grograms, which were presumably made of mohair, were ordinary articles of commerce. In 1641 Mohair in pieces of 15 yards and Mohair Yarne were both imported hither, and we find at this period " mowhayre " charged at 18d. a yard in Lord William Howard's House- hold Boots. Chambers, in his Cyclopaedia, 1741, shows them as a silken stuff. "A kind of stuff, ordinarily of silk, both woof and warp; having its grain wove very close. " There are two kinds of mohairs, the one smooth and plain ; the other watered like tabbys : the difference between the two only consists in this, that the latter is calendered, the other not. There are also mohairs, both plain and watered, whose woof is woollen, cotton, or thread." See Angora ; Camlet. MOIRE. Watered silk. The French term for watering of stuffs is moirage ; but it is most probable that moire is with us a corruption of mohair, which indicated originally an unwatered camlet. (See Camlet.) Moires are now more generally known as moire antiques. In Ure's Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures, and Mines is a good account of the care and skill demanded for their preparation: "These silks are made in the same way as ordinary silks, but always much stouter, sometimes weighing, for equal surface, several times heavier than the best ordinary silks. They are always made of double width, and this is indispensable in obtaining the bold waterings, for these depend not only on the quality of the silk, but greatly on the way in which they are folded when subjected to the enormous pressure in watering. They should be folded in such a manner that the air which is contained within the folds of it should not be able to escape easily ; then when the pressure is applied the air, in trying to effect its oscape, drives before it the little moisture which is MOR ( 227 ) MOTJ used, and hence causes the watering. Care must also be taken so to fold it that every thread may be perfectly parallel, for if they ride one across the other the watering will be spoiled. The pressure used is from 60 to 100 tons." MOREEN. The name of this stuff was formerly Moireen, which gives its origin more distinctly. It is an imitation of moire in com- moner materials for purposes of upholstery. Chintzes have at the present time nearly run this fabric out of the market. In former times, when it was more in demand, a variety with embossed patterns was made by passing the cloth over a hot brass cylinder, on which was engraved various flowers or other fancy figures. MORTLING. A class of wool taken from dead sheep, forbidden by old Acts of Parliament to be mixed with ordinary wool. The word comes from rtiort, death, and laine, wool. MOTLEY CLOTH, Motlado. A mottled cloth occasionally mentioned. A song in Wit's Interpreter, which compares women to different stuffs, sarcastically says : " Their will motlado is, Of durance is their hate." Motley was the ordinary wear of household Jools, but was then generally made up of pieces of cloth of different colours. In As You Like It it is said, " Motley is the only wear." And again : " Invest me in my motley ; give me leave to Speak my mind, and I will through and through." MOURNING. The custom of showing grief by outward signs is very universal, having vent among savage nations in personal laceration, or even of immolation of relatives or slaves, but taking the general form in civilized countries of wearing garments of hues which vary widely. ' ' In Europe the ordinary colour for mourning is black ; in China, white ; in Turkey, blue or violet ; in Egypt, yellow ; in ^Ethiopia, brown. The ancient Spartan or Roman ladies mourned in white ; and the same colour obtained formerly in Castile on the death of their princes. Kings and cardinals mourn in purple. Each people have their reasons for the particular colour of their mourning : white is supposed to denote purity ; yellow, that death is the end of human hopes, in regard to leaves when they fall and flowers when they fade become yellow. Brown denotes the earth, whither the dead return. Black, the privation of life, as being the privation of light. Blue expresses the happiness which it is hoped the deceased does enjoy ; and purple or violet, sorrow on the one side and hope on the other, as being a mixture of black and blue." (Chambers.) With their usual conservatism, the Chinese still adhere to white in this matter, a custom which obtains also in Japan and Siam, as it did in olden Spain among European nations. White is also used with us mixed with black for slight mourning, and as it is, occasionally employed at the death of children or young unmarried women. Persia adopts pale brown ; Bur- mah, yellow; Tartary, deep blue ; Asia Minor, sky-blue. Q2 MOU ( 22S ) MOTJ In this country the earliest pictorial representations of mourning occur in monuments and illuminations of the time of Edward III. Strutt says " widows' garments " are mentioned in Saxon records, but no clue can be found as to their characteristics. The earliest mention also occurs with writers of the same period — Froissart and Chaucer. Chaucer, in his Knight's Tale, speaks of Palamon's appearing at Arcite's funeral " In clothes black dropped all with tears ;" and in his Troylus and Creseyde he describes his heroine " In widowe's habit large of samite brown ; " and in another place says, " Creyseyde was in widowe's habite blacke; " and in another, when separating from Troylus, he makes her say, 11 My clothes evereh one Shall blacke ben in tolequyn (token), herte swete, That I am as out of this worlde agone." Froissart tell us that the Earl of Foix, on hearing of the death of his son Gaston, sent for his barber, and was close shaved, and clothed him- self and all his household in black. At the funeral of the Earl of Flanders, he says, all the nobles and attendants wore black gowns ; and on the death of John, King of France, the King of Cyprus clothed him- self in black mourning, by which distinction it would seem that some other colours were occasionally worn, such as the M samite brown " of Chaucer's Creseyde. The figures on the tomb of Sir Roger de Kerdes- ton, who died a.d. 1337, represent the relations of the deceased knight, and wear their own coloured clothes under the mourning cloak. (Planche : History of British Costume.) Later too it would appear that mourning was represented alike in the form as well as in the colour of garments. Spenser speaks of the "mournfull stole " having been laid aside, " And widow like sad wimple throwne away Wherewith her heavenly beautie she did hide." Faerie Queene. The practice also of distributing mourning to servants or dependents appears to have been formerly followed. Francis Smithson, a merchant of Richmond, in his will, dated 1670, desires "that noe mourning ribbons soe called be given to weare for me, and that none mourne in blacke for me, and noe bells to be rung for me." " 'Tis not my inky cloak, good mother, Nor customary suits of solemn black That can denote me truly .... These but the trappings and the suits of woe." Hamlet. " Shall we go throw away our coats of steel, And wrap our bodies in black mourning gowns, Numbering our Ave-Marias with our beads." King Henry VI., Part III. u In the afternoon to White Hall: and then walked an houre or two in the Parke, where I saw the King, now out of mourning, in a suit laced with gold and silver." Pepys: Diary, May 11, 1662. MOUSSELINES DE LAINE. (Fr., literally, muslins of wool.) "Springing out of the introduction of mixed stuffs, formed of cotton warp and worsted weft, arose the manufacture of Mousselines de Laine. MUF ( 229 ) MTJF which, soon after being brought into the market (about 1837), came into extensive use. Unlike the French fabric of the same name, which is wholly composed of wool, the English one consisted of cotton warp com- bined with worsted weft." {History of the Worsted Manufacture.) MUFF. A case of fur to put the hands in in cold weather. Bailey. (Fr. mouffle, Dutch moffil, G-er. muff, a sleeve.) In the first muffs the fur was placed inside, and satin, velvet, or some other expensive material without. Men used them in the time of Charles II.,* and in the follow- ing reign they were, as in recent times, commonly suspended from the " neck by a string : 11 The ribbon, fan, or muff that she Would should be kept by thee or me Should not be given before too many." Suckling (1609-1641) : To Ids Rival, " What, no more favours, not a ribbon more, Not fan, not muff? " Ib. " Feel but the difference, soft and rough : This a gauntlet, that a muff." Cleveland. " Her fur is destin'd still her charms to deck, Made for her hands a muff, a tippet for her neck." Pitt : Fable of the Youitg Man and his Oat. " A philosoper that says, That -which supports accidents is something he knows not what, and a countryman that says, The foundation of the great church at Harlaem is supported by something he knows not what, and a child that stands in the dark upon his mother's muff, and says he stands upon something he knows not what, in this respect talk all three alike." Locke : Letter to the Bishop of Worcester. " The lady of the spotted muff began." Dkyden. " I have received a letter, desiring me to be very satirical upon the little muff that is now in fashion ; another informs me of a pair of silver garters, buckled below the knee, that have been lately seen at the Eainbow Coffee- house, in Fleet Street ; a third sends me a heavy complaint against fringed gloves." Spectator, No. 16. MUFFETTEE. A small muff worn over the wrist. Halliwell. MUFFLER. Douce, in his Illustrations of Shakespeare says, "The term is connected with the old French musser or mucer, to hide ; or with amuseler, to cover the museau or muffle, a word which has been indis- criminately used for the mouth, nose, and even the whole of the face ; hence our muzzle ; " and also gives illustrations of several of these articles in use, some of which show only the eyes. This shows more plainly how Falstaff, putting on " a hat, a muffler, and a kerchief, might the more easily escape from Ford's house. Another connexion is traced by Booth : A muffler is the name of a sort of veil that was once worn by females ; the French call their winter gloves moujles; and a single piece * A ballad, describing the fair on the Thames during the great frost of 1683-4, makes mention of " A spark of the Bar with his cane and his muff." MTJL ( 230 ) MUL of dress, made of stuffed fur, with which a lady covers both her hands and her arms is a muff." Milton uses " unmuijie " in the sense of unveil. Monsieur Thomas, in the comedy of that name, disguising himself as a female, says, " On with my muffler ; " to which his sister says, " Yo're a sweet lady ! Come let's see your courtesie." They were sometimes known as chin-clouts. In one of the Old Plays of Dodsley's collection it is said : lt If I mistook not at my entrance there hangs the lower part of a gentle- woman's gown, with a mask and a chin-clout ; " and it is afterwards said of the lady : " She wears a linen cloth about her jaw." Nares. Muffler was once used as a slang term for boxing gloves. " He has the shape and constittition of a porter, and is sturdy enough to encounter Broughton without mufflers." Connoisseur, No. 52. MULE- JENNY. An invention matured in 1779 by Samuel Crompton, a young weaver. It was at its introduction called the Muslin Wheel from its first producing by machinery yarn from which fine muslins could be woven, or the Hall-i'-th'-Wood wheel, from the old house of that name, about two miles from Bolton, in which Crompton was living at the time he perfected his invention. It subsequently came to be known as the mule, from its combining the principles of the spinning jenny of Har- greaves and the water frame of Arkwright. Cromp ton's own account of its construction gives the date of its first being completed in the year 1779, although it is often given as 1775. "At the end of the following year (1780) I was under the necessity of making it public or destroying it, as it was not in my power to keep it and work it ; and to destroy it was too painful a task, having been four years and a half, at least, wherein every moment of time and power of mind, as well as expense, which my other employment would not permit, were devoted to this one end, the having good yarn to weave ; so that to destroy it I could not." The constraining power in this case was the wide-spread fame which Crompton's yarn quickly acquired. His whole time was occupied, and more than occupied, by the orders which poured in upon him, in executing which he could claim his own price ; and every stratagem which curiosity or cupidity could devise, even to mounting ladders placed against his windows, or in obtaining a hiding-place on his premises, was practised ; so that the persecution at last became too strong for Crompton to stand, and he made his invention public. The only stipulation he made was that some remuneration should be given him by prominent Bolton spinners who adopted his improvement, and the sums thus promised amounted to a little over £67 ! Even of this Crompton only received a part. Subsequently a sum of £500 was collected for him by the exertions of two friends, which allowed him to extend his small weaving establishment. In 1812 a grant of £5,000 was obtained for him from Parliament, and his lack of business qualities — which was such that a biographer of him says that " when he attended the Manchester Exchange to sell his yarns and muslins, and any rough-and-ready manufacturer ventured to offer him a less price than he asked, he would invariably wrap up hia samples, put MXJL ( 231 ) MUS them into his pocket, and would quietly walk away " — having again reduced him to necessitous circumstances, a third subscription was raised for him in 1824, which resulted in an annuity of £63 per annum being purchased for him. This he only lived three years to enjoy. He complained bitterly of the espionage to which he was subjected, saying he was ' ' hunted and watched with as much never-ceasing care as if he was the most notorious villain that ever disgraced the human form ; that if he were to go to a smithy to get a nail made, if opportunity offered to the bystanders, they would examine it most minutely to see if it was anything but a nail. " He died in poverty, and to his surviving daughter could leave only a name to be enrolled in that long list of inventors whose efforts and ingenuity have enriched others, while they themselves have reaped nothing but increased care or malicious perse- cution. It reads like a satire, but is none the less true, that in 1862 a bronze statue was erected to his memory in the town which had above all others slighted him, and above all others had gathered wealth through his genius, " with much display and outward manifestations of rejoicing." MULL. A peculiarly soft muslin (L. mollio, to soften). MUNGO properly signifies the disintegrated rags of woollen cloth, as distinguished from those of worsted, which form shoddy. The dis- tinction is very commonly disregarded. The naine " may appear a very odd one to persons not accustomed to it, for though the term is under- stood in the trade, it appears very unmeaning, and to have no necessary or natural affinity with the commodity designated ; the origin of the term ' mungo ' is said to be this — one of the dealers in the newly- discovered material was pushing the sale of a small quantity, when doubts were expressed as to its likelihood to sell, to which the possessor replied, ' It mun go,' meaning, ' It must go.' " Jubb: History of the Shoddy Tirade. MUSLIN (Ger. musselin, nesseltuch, Du. neteldock, Da. netteldug, Sw. nattelduk, Fr. mousseline, It. moussolma, Sp. moselina, Port. cassa, caca, musselina, Russ. Jcissea, Pol. muslin) is a fine fabric of cotton having a downy nap upon its surface.* Our supply was formerly derived exclusively from India, but it is a remarkable fact that much of the muslin now exhibited for sale in the bazaars there is of English manufacture. The name is derived from the city of Mossul, which stands near the site of Nineveh, a place long celebrated for the fineness and delicacy of its cottons, which were also made with stripes or threads of gold running with the warp, and apparently, from the narrative of Marco Polo, of silk as well. He says, "All those clothes of gold and silk, which we call muslins {mossoulini) are of the manufacture of Mossul." It is certain that the use of these diaphanous- fabrics is of very ancient date, a fact of interest, as proving a refinement of skill in weaving in very early ages. Muslins are mentioned in the Periplus of the Erythrean Sea, a book of travels attributed to the time of Nero, as an article of trade at Aduli, a port of * The origin of the word has been traced to this downy surface through the French mousse, moss. HUS ( 232 ) MUS the Red Sea ; and Arrian, an Egyptian Greek, who lived in the first or second century, notices the export from India of calic oes, muslins, and ®ther cottons, both plain and ornamented with flowers. Some of the allusions to the wonderful fineness of Indian muslins appear to border on the marvellous, or at any rate to be very extravagant. We read of a dress length of cotton being enclosed in a nutshell ; or of a king reproving his daughter for the indecent transparency of her dress, who retorted that she was robed in forty yards of stufff ; and such instances ®nly seem to find fitting place in a fabulous narrative. Yet the name bestowed by the Romans on the fabric — ventus textilis, or woven wind — is not entirely figurative. A missionary at Serampore, the Rev. William Ward, informed the author of the History of the Cotton Manufacture that "at Shantee-poru, and Dhaka muslins are made which sell at a hundred rupees a piece. The ingenuity of the Hindoo in this branch of manufacture is wonderful. Persons with whom I have conversed on this subject say that at two places in Bengal, Sonar-ga and Vikrum-pooru, muslins are made by a few families so exceedingly fine that four months are required to weave one piece, which sells at four or five hundred rupees. When this muslin is laid on the grass and the dew has fallen upon it, it is no longer discernible. The names bestowed by the Hindoos upon such fabrics are very practical and significant, such as 'Dew of Light,' ' Running Water ;' and Spenser alludes to them as being made of ' scorched tears.' " Tavernier, who, like Marco Polo, Barbosa, and Frederick, was a merchant as well as a traveller, and therefore accustomed to judge of the qualities of goods, and who travelled in the middle of the 17th centnry, says, 'The white calicuts,' (calicoes, or rather muslins, so called from the great commercial city of Calicut, whence the Portuguese and Dutch first brought them) ' are woven in several places in Bengal and Mogulistan, and are carried to Raioxsary and Baroche to be whitened, because of the large meadows and plenty of lemons that grow there- abouts, for they are never so white as they should be till they are dipped in lemon-water. Some calicuts are made so fine, you can hardly feel them in your hand, and the thread, when spun, is scarce discernible.' The same writer says, ' There is made at Seconge (in the province of Malwa) ' a sort of calicut so fine that when a man puts it on, his skin shall appear as plainly through it as if he was quite naked ; but the merchants are not permitted to transport it, for the governor is obliged to send it all to the Great Mogul's seraglio and the principal lords of the court, to make the sultanesses and noblemen's wives shifts and garments for the hot weather ; and the king and the lords take great pleasure to behold them in these shifts, and see them dance with nothing else upon them.' Speaking of the turbans of the Mohammedan Indians, Tavernier says, ' The rich have them of so fine cloth that Uwenty-five or thirty ells of it put into a turban will not weigh four ounces.'" Baines. According to Anderson, the use of " the flimsy muslins from India " began in or about 1670, displacing the use, till then general, of cam- brics, Silesia lawns, and such kind of flaxen linens of Flanders and Germany, which reversal of the ordinary and, as it appeared to writers t)f the time, more profitable trade caused some complaint. "The advantages of the East India Company," said one, writing in 1690, " is MUS ( 233 ) MUS chiefly in their muslins and Indian silks, and these are becoming the general wear in England. Fashion is truly termed a witch — the dearer and scarcer the commodity, the more the mode. Thirty shillings a yard for muslins, and only the shadow of a commodity when procured." The manufacture of muslins in this country began simultaneously at Bolton, Glasgow, and Paisley about the year 1780, though we know the project to have been mooted before, for one of the companies started during the South Sea mania was to obtain letters patent to protect " Puckle's Machine for making Muslin." This design came to nought, and may have been nothing but a design at best. The first muslins made here were unsatisfactory, owing to the coarseness of the yarn. " There was no yarn fitted for the weft of these goods, except that spun upon Hargreaves' jenny ; and when made of this it was found they were not of a marketable quality. Recourse was then had to wefts brought from India ; and although a better article than the former was by this means produced, it was still not of a quality to compete successfully with Indian muslin. As soon, however, as the invention of the mule-jenny enabled the spinner to produce yarns suited to such fabrics, the manu- facture of the finest cotton articles became an important branch of trade in this country. That machine came into use in, 1785, upon Sir Richard Arkwright's patent being cancelled ; and it is from that period we ought to date the commencement of this part of the manufacture. So rapid was its progress that in 1787 it was computed that] 500,000 pieces of muslin were in that year manufactured in Great Britain." {Encyclo- pedia Brittanica. ) A contemporary writer remarks as to this wonderful advance, " If the cotton manufacture should continue to make the pro- gress it has lately done in England, it bids fair to be the principal manufacture of the country. It will bear a great extension. Scotland, whose intelligent and steady people are so well disposed to manufac- tures, has within two years made an astonishing progress in it, par- ticularly in the muslins. There are already five cotton mills erected in Scotland ; and in the city of Glasgow alone above 1,000 looms have been set up in the last year in the muslin branch. " (Lokd Sheffield : On the Manufactures, <£c, of Ireland, 1785.) The fabrication of muslin continued to flourish in this country, and is still an important branch of trade, mainly confined to the districts in which it was first established. It has been at various times expanded to include imitations of other Indian varieties, such as tarlatans and mulls, and fabrics either woven with figures in the loom or subsequently by the hand, frequently in the latter case giving plentiful and remune- rative employment to numbers of poor people. MUSQUASH, or Musk-rat (fur). A native of North America, the skin of which was first brought here to meet a deficiency of beaver fur. It was then used principally in making hats, but is now dyed by the furrier for smaller articles of personal use. The musquash forms a branch of the beaver family, and like that animal builds houses when inhabiting low-lying grounds, but when practicable burrows holes in banks of streams or ponds. It is killed by spearing it through the walls of its house, or by set traps. Some 400,000 or 500,000 skins are annually imported into this country. ETUS ( 234 ) NAN MUSTERDEVILLIERS, Mustardovillars, Mustardevelin. A cloth often mentioned by writers of the . 16th and 17th centuries, one which has proved a hard nut for antiquarians to crack. Stow says in his Chronicles : "Of older times I read that the officers of this city wore gowns of party colours, as the right side of one colour and the left side of another. As, for example, I read in books of accounts in Guild- hall that in the nineteenth year of King Henry VI. there was bought for an officer's gown two yards of cloth coloured mustard villars, a colour now ©ut of use, and two yards of cloth coloured blew, price two shillings the yard, in all eight shillings more, paid to John Pope, draper, for two gown-cloths, eight yards, of two colours, eux ombo deux de rouge, or red medley, brune and porre (or purple) colour. Price the yard two shillings. These gowns were for Piers, Rider, and John Buckle, clerks- cf the chamber." Here Stow says, with all distinctness, that the name was derived from, the colour, and Planche" says that it is an undeniable fact that mustard colour cloth was much used for official dresses in the loth century. Yet, on the other hand, in Rymer's Folder a, an invaluable collection of ancient state records, is quoted a licence granted by Henry VI., in 1428, to the King of Portugal's agent to export a quantity of goods free of customs, among which are included : " Two pieces of mustreviilers. Two pieces of russet of mustreviilers/' And in the same year, in another list of goods permitted export to the agent of the Duchess of Gloucester and Holland, on the same terms, appears, " Thirty-four yards of gray mustreviilers." Fairholt, appar- ently on the authority of Halliwell, describes it as "a mixed grey woollen cloth." The name has further been conjectured to have arisen either through the corruption of moitie velours, and so to signify the description of stuff rather than its colour, or from the town where it was manufactured. A town called Muster de Villiers, near Harfleur, is mentioned by historians of the preceding reign (Henry V.) in their accounts of Henry's expedition. Meyrick says that Elmham speaks of a town near Harfleur, which he mentions by a similar name, and which is probably Montiguliers. " Cloth of Mustrevilers " is quoted in the Wardrobe Accounts of Edward IV. at from 3s. Sd. to os. the yard. " A fine gown of Must' de Wylliers furred with fine beavers, and one pair of brigandines covered with blue velvet and gilt nails, with leg harness ; the value of the gown and brigandines, £3." Paston Letters {temp. Hy. VII. and Edward IV.) " My mother sent to my father to London for a gown cloth of Mustyrdde- vyllers." Ibid. NAIL. A measure of length — 2} inches. NAINSOOKS. A species of Bengal muslins. NANKEEN, Nankin, Nanqueen. (Ger. nanking, Du. nanking*, linnen, Da., Sw. nanking, Fr. toilede nankin, It. nanguino, Sp. nanguina, Port. nanguin.) The statement that this stuff was made from a cotton of brownish yellow tint was for a long time discredited, but it is now certain that the yellow preserves the colour of the cotton composing i; NAP ( 235 ) NAP rather than acquires it by any process of dyeing. Baines cites several authorities on this point : "It has been much disputed whether the nankeens are made from a cotton of their peculiar colour, or are dyed to that colour. Sir George Staunton, who travelled with Lord Macartney's embassy through the province of Kiangnan, to which province the nankeen cotton is peculiar, distinctly states that the cotton is naturally ' of the same yellow tinge which it preserves when spun and woven into cloth.' He also says that the nankeen cotton degenerates when transplanted to any other province. Embassy to China, by Sir George Staunton. Sir George Thomas Staunton (son of the above) has translated an extract from a Chinese Herbal, * on the character, culture, and uses of the annual herbaceous cotton plant,' in which the plant producing f dusky yellow cotton,' of very fine quality, is mentioned as one of the varieties. Narrative of the Chinese Embassy to the Khan oj the Tartars. Van Braam, who travelled in China with a Dutch embassy at the close of the last century, and who had been commissioned by European merchants to request that the nankeens for their markets might be dyed of a deeper colour than those last received, says : ' La toile de Nan-king, qu'on fabrique fort loin du lieu du meme nom, est f aite d'un coton roussdtre : la couleur de la toile de Nam-king est done naturelle, et point sujette a palir.' Voyage de VAmbassade de la Compagnie des Indes Orientates Hollandaises vers VEmpereur de la Chine. A modern navigator says, ' Each family (at Woosung) appears to cultivate a small portion of ground with cotton, which I here saw of a light yellow colour. The nankeen cloth made from that requires no dye.' Voyage of the Ship 'Amherst' to the N. E. Coast of China, 1832 : published by Order of the House of Commons. A nankeen-coloured cotton grows at Puraniya (Purneah), near the banks of the Ganges, in India, and is mentioned by Dr. F. Hamilton, in an unpublished account of that district, in the library of the India House in London. A similar cotton grows in small quantities in the southern states of the American Union, as I learn from Mr. G. R. Porter's Tropical Agriculturist, and from M. Malte Brun. The colour of the cotton seems to depend on some peculiarity in the soil." It came originally from Nankin, whence its name. After its first in- troduction a large import trade in this stuff was carried on with China ; in 1830, under the British flag alone, 925,200 pieces, valued at over £107,000, were brought in ; but it was soon imitated here with such remarkable success that considerable quantities were, and still are, ex- ported to Canton. Blue, white, and pink varieties have been made, but the brownish-yellow variety, so often seen in wear for trousers by gentlemen, and known to be worn in corsets by ladies, is the Nankiu with which the name was most generally associated. NAP. The woolly substance on the surface of cloth ; the downy covering of plants. (A.-S. knoppa, Ice. napp, allied to Fr. noper, to nip off the knots on the surface of cloth ; Ger. noppen, Gr. knaptd, to dress cloth, from knao, to scrape.) Donald. " The velvet nap which on his wings doth lie." Spenser; Muipotmos. " That brushing, dressing, nor new nap can mend." Beaumont and Fletcher : A Wife for a Moneth. NAP ( 236 ) NAP 11 There be also plants, that though they have no prickles, yet they have a downy or velvet rim upon their leaves ; as rose-campion, stock gilly-flowers, colt's foot ; which downe or nap cometh. of a subtil spirit, in a soft or fat sub- stance." Bacon : Natural History . 11 Brutus. I hard him sweare, Were he to stand for consull, neuer would he Appear i' th' market place, nor on him put The naples vesture of humilitie." Shakespeare : Coriolanus. NAPERY. Linen of any kind, but chiefly table linen ; from nappe, Fr. (a table-cloth). Johnson (after Skinner) says from naperia, It. ; but there is no such word in the Italian of any age. Naperii, in Low Latin, was made from this ; see Du Cange. Cotgrave, indeed, has napperie, in the plural, for " all manner of napery ; " but he is no authority against that of the Italian dictionaries. Nares. " Our innes are also verie well furnished with naperie, bedding, and tapis- serie, especiallie with naperie ; for beside the linnen vsed at the tables, which is commonlie weshed dailie, (there) is such and so much as belongeth vnto the estate and calling of the ghest." Hollixshed: Description of England, 1577. " There (in Candlewick Street) dwelt also of old time divers weavers of woollen clothes, brought in by Edward III. For I read that in the 44th of his reign the weavers brought out of Flanders were appointed, their meetings to be in the churchyard of St. Laurence Poultney, and the weavers of Brabant in the churchyard of St. Mary Sommerset. There were then in this city weavers of divers sorts ; to wit, of drapery, or tapery, and napery.'' Stow: Survey of London, 1598. " The pages spred a tahle out of hand, And brought forth nap'ry rich, and plate more rich." Harrington. 11 'Tis true that he did eat no meat on table cloths, out of meer necessity, because they had no meat nor napery." Gaytox : Fest. Xotes. " So many napkins, that it will require a society of linendrapers to furnish us with the napery." Ibid. " And the smirk butler thinks it Sin, in's nap'rie not to express his wit." Herriok. Here rather improperly or jocularly used : 11 A long adue to the spirit of sack, and that noble napery till the next vintage." Lady Alimony, 1659. Linen worn on the person : " Thence Clodius hopes to set his shoulders free From the light burden of his napery." Hall : Satires. " Prythee put me into wholesome napery." . Dekker : Honest Whore. NAPKIN, from the Fr. nappe. Literally means a little cloth. In the 16th century pocket-handkerchiefs were commonly called napkins, and they are still styled pocket napkins in Scotland. " And to that youth he calls his Rosalind Ho sends this bloody napkin." As You Like It. " And tread on corked stilts a prisoner's pace, And make their napkin for tbcir spitting place." Hall: Satires. NEE ( 237 ) NEE " The hour of meals being come, and all things are now in readiness, le maitre hostel takes a clean napkin, folded at length, but narrow, and throws it over his shoulder, remembering that this is the ordinary mark, and a par- ticular sign and demonstration of his office ; and to let men see how creditable his charge is, he must not be shamefaced, not so much as blush, no not before any noble personage, because his place is rather an honour than a service, for he may do his office with his sword by his side, his cloak upon his shoulders, and his hat upon his head ; but his napkin must always be upon his shoulders, just in the position I told you of before." Giles Hose's School of Instructions for the Officers of the. Month, 1682. NEEDLE. Literally, that which pricks or sews; a small, sharp-pointed steel instrument, with an eye for a thread ; anything like a needle, as the magnet of a compass. (A.-S. nozdel, Ger. nadel (akin to nagel, a nail, nessel, a nettle), from Ger. nahen, Old Ger. nagan, to sew, akin to Gr. nusso, to prick. ) Donald. We know that needles of some kind must have been in use for a considerable period from the evidence we have of elaborate needlework being executed, but before this present century needles were luxuries and not lightly esteemed. The first needles were of ivory or bone, or of metal. In the latter case the eye was generally formed by looping metal round at the head. Although such a needle would not bear comparison with the beautiful little instrument with which we are so familiar as to view it generally with the contempt which proverbially follows great intimacy, yet some g6*od work was done with these clumsy tools. For long ages, from the days when William of Malmesbury wrote that Edgitha, the wife of Edward the Confessor, was 11 perfectly mistress of the needle," and when all Anglo-Saxon ladies were so skilled in embroidery that anything worked with unusual skill received the name of The English work down to the 14th century, when vestments of English work were still known and used all over the Continent, the rough old needles were made to play a good part, and did far more work than any of their more finished descendants. Germany, the only European country which even yet attempts to dispute our supremacy in needle-making, was the first to find out the application of wire- drawing to that end. At Niirnberg, the wire-drawers, following the discovery commonly ascribed to Rudolph, one of their citizens, banded themselves together in 1360, and ten years later the needle-makers did like- wise. Needles appear to have become common here in the 16th century. Previously to that an officer of the household of Edward IV. was paid 76s. 8d. by the year to provide "parchemynt, papir, ink, rede wex, threde, nedels, counters, bagges of leder, with many other small necessarie thinges." In the reign of Queen Mary a Spanish Negro, according to Stow, " first made needles in England, which he sold in Cheapside." He, however, "would never teach his art to any." We may infer that needles were then chiefly made in Spain, or were made of better quality there than elsewhere, for needles are usually styled "Spanish " at that time. A Pleasant and Compendious History of the First Inventors and Institutors of the most Famous Arts, published in 1686, after giving the particulars related by Stow, proceeds to state that " in the eighth year of Queen Elizabeth's reign, Elias Corons, a German, made it known to the English." The name of this German is more generally given as Growse. One account states that at his death the NET ( 238 ) NET art of needle-making was again lost, and not recovered for nearly a hundred years ; but we are also told, that " the family of Greenings, ancestors of the Earl of Dorchester, established a manufactory at Grendon, Bucks, at the same time " as Growse or Corons began business. Both establishments would hardly be likely to die away at the same time. In 1578 " a thowsand § of countre needles " are valued at 2s. 6d. And in 1624 "600 needles" cost five shillings. The Company of Needle Makers was incorporated by Oliver Cromwell in 1656. We are indebted to America for the initiative in needle making by machinery, which was carried on in the United States in 1818, and introduced into England in 1824, (Yeats: Technical History of Com- merce.) " It is lighter a camell to passe through an nedlis yghe than a rich man to entre into the kyngdom of God." Wiclif : Mark, c. 10. " For semivivus he semede As naked a neelde and non help ahoute hyrn." Piers Plowman. "With curious needle-worke A garment gan she make, Wherein she wrote that bale she bode, And all for bewties sake." Gascoigxe (1530-1577) : Tlie Complaynt of Philomene. " As ladies wont To finger the fine nedle and nyce thred." Spenser : Faerie Queene. " Whether her needle play'd the pencil's part : 'Twas plain from Pallas she deriv'd her art." Gay: Ovid, Metamorphoses. " Some fickle creatures boast a soul True as a needle to the pole, Their humour yet so various. They manifest their whole life through, The needle's deviation too, Their love is so precarious." Cowper: Friendship. " With nobler gifts of native worth adorn'd, The heroic maid her sex's softness scorn'd, Scorn'd each important toil of female hearts, The trickling ornament of needled arts." Brookes : Jerusalem Delivered, 1737. " For him you waste in tears your widow'd hours, For him yonr curious needle paints the flowers." Dryden. NET. That which is knitted (see Knit). According to Dr. John- son " anything reticulated or decussated at equal distances, with inter- stices between the intersections." An art so ancient that Scriptural metaphors plainly illustrate the practice of using nets for snaring. Nets for such purposes are represented on Egyptian and Babylonian monuments, and are shown there to have in no wise differed from modern nets. Nets have been used for personal wear and for decorative purposes. Beckmann (History of Inventions) says, "I remember to have seen in old churches retiform hangings, and on old dresses of ceremony borders or trimming of the same kind, which fashion seems 2TZT ( 239 ) 2TIG - a-. it: . . :■: j 1 NOI ( 240 ) NUT In Massinger's City Madam, 1659, Luke, in a speech to the character after whom the play is named, speaks of her feigning, sickness : " That your night-rails at forty pound a piece Might be seen with envy of the visitants." A curious fashion of publicly wearing night-gowns at one time is recounted in Walker's Historical Memoirs of the Irish Bards: Amongst many other ridiculous fashions that prevailed in this country since the reign of Queen Anne, was that of the ladies wearing bed-gowns in the streets about forty years ago. The canaille of Dublin were so disgusted with this fashion, or perhaps deemed it so prejudicial to trade, that they tried every expedient to abolish it. They insulted in the streets and public places those ladies who complied with it, and ridiculed it in ballads. But the only expedient that proved effectual was the prevailing on an unfortunate female who had been condemned for a murder to appear at the place of execution in a bed-gown.* NOILS. The short wool taken from the long staple wool by combing, used to give apparent solidity or thickness in the handling of cloth. NUTRIA, Neutria, or Coypou (fur). The name of the otter in Spanish is nutria, and the name was probably derived from the resem- blance of the Coypou to that animal. The fur first began to be used * The attempts to check prevailing fashions would make a very curious chapter of history. To say nothing of pictorial skits and written squibs, direct imitation has been tried to provoke ridicule. Mrs. Manning gave a check to the sale of black satin because she was dressed in the stuff when hanged. In our own day the practice of wearing linen neckties and cheap hats is said to have been summarily suppressed by tradesmen, who had a stock of similar articles of more expensive make, gratuitously supplying them to crossing- sweepers and cabmen. Pepys shows how the King of France nearly provoked a war by arraying bis footmen in vests after Cbarles II. had started that fashion here, "which," says tbe Secretary to the Admiralty, "would excite a stone to be revenged ;" and, to give only one more instance, we' read in the Annual Register of 1661 : " June 24. Last Sunday, some young gentlemen belonging to a merchant's counting-house, who were a little disgusted at the too frequent use of thebag-wig made by apprentices to tbe meanest mechanics, took the following method to burlesque that elegant piece of French furniture. Having a porter just come out of the country, they dressed him in a bag- wig, laced ruffles, and Frenchified him up in tbe new mode, telling him that if he intended to make his fortune in town he must dress himself like a gentle- man on Sunday, go into the Mall in St. James's Park, and mix with people of the 6rst rank. They went with him to the scene of action, and drove him in among his betters, where he bebaved as he was directed, in a manner the most likely to render him conspicuous. All the company saw by tbe turning of his toes that the dancing master had not done his duty ; and by the swing of his arms, and his continually looking at his laced ruffles and silk stockings, they had reason to suppose it was the first time he had appeared in such a dress. The company gathered round him, which he at first took for applause, and held up his head a little higher than ordinary ; but at last some gentlemen joining is conversation with him, by his dialect detected him, and laughed him out of company. Several, however, seemed dissatisfied at the scoffs he received from a parcel of 'prentice boys monkeyfied in the same manner, wno appeared like so many little curs round a mastiff] :ind mapped as he went alone;, without being sensible at the same time of their own vreakneSB." OIL ( 241 ) OLD about 1810, when it was employed in the manufacture of hats as a sub- stitute for beaver, and was brought from South America, where the animal, a kind of water rat, is found in large quantities in Chili and Buenos Ayres. OILCLOTH. An industry of recent introduction. The step3 whereby we may suppose this material to have been gradually brought to the state usually presented by it at the present day are simple and ob- vious. In the first place, a coarse hempen or flaxen fabric was woven and laid down as a floor covering. It was then probably suggested that the durability of the material would be greatly increased by laying on a coating of paint, or by saturating the fibres of the cloth with oil or paint, allowed to become thoroughly dried and hardened before the cloth was brought into use. The painter would then exercise his taste in producing a pattern on the cloth, by using paint of different colours, and applying his brush with reference to some particular device. Then would come the use of stencil plates as a means of producing an unlimited number of copies of the same pattern, so as to expedite and facilitate the painting of the device. The stencil plates were probably made of thin sheet metal with the pattern cut out or stamped on them ; a pattern could be produced by painting the canvas — previously prepared with a ground colour all over — in the parts left bare by the stencil plates ; the pattern, too, would be more or less elaborate, accqrding as there were or were not different colours, one stencil plate being devoted to each colour. Lastly ensued the improvement which arises from printing the device by blocks, ,the faces of which are cut similar to the blocks in wood engraving ; a method which admits of very much closer accuracy and neatness than can be attained by the use of stencil plates. That these successive stages in the progress of the manufacture are not wholly suppositions may be shown by a kind of historical memento of the manufacture still in existence. There is yet to be seen the first block ever cut for printing floorcloth ; it is still in the hands of the family of the manufacturer who cut it and printed it, and remains to 3how the time — about ninety years — which has elapsed since the use of such blocks originally commenced. Before that time the floorcloth manufactured, very limited in extent, as may be well supposed, received whatever pattern was intended for it by the use of stencil plates. {Dodd : British Manvjactures.) OLDHAM. A cloth of coarse construction originally manufactured at the town of that name in Norfolk. It was known in the time of Ptichard II. Planche. The first distinct mention of the name of worsted as an article of clothing which has been met with occurs in the time of Edward II., when the making of it had evidently been established for a considerable period at Norwich as its principal seat ; for in the eighth year of his reign a complaint was exhibited to Parliament against the clothiers of that city for making the worsteds called old hames five yards shorter than they had been accustomed to be made, and selling them for full measure. The abuse was rectified by an Act of Parliament then passed, and the price of every piece of cloth was regulated by the number of yards it contained. Strut* has the following observation on this statute : OR A ( 242 ) OST '"' Antiently the cloths made at Norwich, denominated worsteds and old ham, were sold unfairly, the merchant reckoning 30 yards to the piece, which in reality contained no more than 25, so that the purchaser paid for five yards more than he received." In another part of his work he states, "Worsteds, called also cogwares, or vesses and old hames. made at Norwich, are mentioned in the statutes so early as the 8th of Edward II." James : History of the Worsted Manufacture. ORAXGELIST. A wide baize, dyed in bright colours, formerly largely exported to Spain. ORGAXZ1NE. Supposed to be a corruption of organized, silk wound, cleaned, doubled, and thrown so as to resemble the strand of a rope, and thus treated for emplojmient in the warp cf silk stuffs. ORLEANS CLOTHS. Stuffs of cotton warp and worsted weft, which on weaving are brought alternately to the surface, the first goods of that description introduced here. The date of their introduction is given as 1S37, and the origin of the name ascribed to their having been first produced at Orleans. ORRIS (a corruption of Arras). Laces embroidered or woven in fancj' figures with gold or silver, mention of which constantly occurs in descriptions of dresses at the beginning of the ISth centur} r , when they were used as trimmings. The name is still in use, but is given a wider application, so as to include nearly every description of upholstery galloons. OSX ABURG. A kind of coarse linen principally made in and named from that province in Hanover. OSTADE. A name occurring as signifying a stuff, but of doubtful application. Guicciavdini, in his Description of the Netherlands ascribes to that country the invention of the following arts, viz., "first, the baking of those fine colours in glass which we see in the windows of old churches ; secondly, the art of making tapestry hangings ; thirdly, the art of making says, serges, fustians, ostades and demy-ostades, woollen cloth napped (a f riser), and manj r sorts also of linen cloth, besides a great number of lesser inventions." Anderson, who quotes this, inter- prets ostades as worsteds, but in another reference to the stuff he shows the question an open one by inserting the remark in brackets, " Quaere, if not worsted?" James, in his History of the Worsted Manufacture, has the following passage relative to this matter : "It is assumed that the word worsted is derived from the Dutch term ' ostade, ' signifying this particular branch of woollen fabric ; and that the corruption • worsted ' took its use from the Flemish weavers establishing it at and giving its name to the town." This is supported by Dr. Parry in his work on Merino sheep, no great authority ; but is adopted by the writer of the article on the worsted manufacture in Rees' Encyclopaedia, who remarks " that as- the Flemings introduced the manufacture into England it is probable our appellation ia a corruption of theirs. Ostade was long aeo a common surname in Flanders, and was probably the surname of sonic person famous for this particular branch of the woollen trade, which afterwards was appropriated to an establishment of similar manufactures in Norfolk." There is no doubt but in tho middle ages there were in OST ( 243 ) PAI> the Netherlands stuffs termed " ostades;" for Guicciardini, in his acoount of that country, mentions them by that name among its manufactures. Blomefield, the historian of Norfolk, has the following observation on this dispute : " That it (the worsted manufacture) was first introduced a5 Worsted I make no doubt, from its name, which occurs in the most ancient things I meet with in relation to it, it being as plain it had that name on that account as the name of Norwich stuffs at this day for the same reason." OSTRICH FEATHERS. (Ger. stratmfedern, Du. struisvecren, Sw struss/jadrar, Fr. plumes d'autruche, It. penna di strozzo, Sp., Port, plumas de avestruz, Russ. strusowu penja.) The fine feathers of the ostrich, long known and used as ornaments. Representa- tions of these feathers worn by knights in their helmets are com- monly met with in mediaeval documents, and they were worn with ordinary dress in the time of the Stuarts. Iu 1450 ten shillings each for ten feathers was paid by Edward IV. The bird is a native of Africa, and is being partially domesticated on large farms in the south of that Continent. The feathers of the male bird are more highly esteemed, and of these, again, those of the back and upper part of the wings are of superior quality and colour. In some instances these have been known to fetch as much as eight guineas per pound. Feathers plucked from the wings generally take a secondary placs, and then come in order of value those taken from the extremities of the wings and from the tail. The feathers of the female generally have a greyish tinge, which considerably decrease's their beauty and price. OTTER (fur). One of the few animals of Britain whose skins have any value, and of this variety only some 500 pelts are annually collected. The American otter supplies the greater proportion of the skins, which, are principally taken by the Russians and Chinese, by whom the fur, together with that of the sea otter, is very highly prized. The fur of the American variety varies from a deep reddish brown in winter to a blackish hue in summer, while that of the sea otter is of a deep lus- trous black, or of a dark maroon colour when dressed. A fine skin of this latter kind is valued at about £40 in China, and even older and less valuable skins fetch from £18 to £20. PACKING WHITS. An ancient kind of cloth. From several severe restrictions and stringent regulations imposed on the cloth manufacture by an Act of 1483 this stuff was exempted, together with " plonkets, turkins, celestrines, vesses, cogware, worsteds, florences, bastards, kendals, saylingware with cremil lists and frise ware, so as in other respects they be fairly and legally made." PADUASOY {Sole de Padoue). A strong silk, usually black, in vogue during the last century for ladies' dresses and gentlemen's coats. The introduction of the manufacture into this country is assigned to the refugees who fled hither at the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Strangely enough, an entry in the Household Books of Lord William Hovjard points to a different derivation to this from silk of Padua, which is so generally accepted, and indicates rather that paduasoy was R 2 PAL ( 244 ) PAL at first a worsted material. The item is entered under date of 1633, and is the payment of a sum of 21s. 8d. "for fiveyeardes of Padua saye for a peticote for my Ladie ; " so that both the purpose for which it was intended and the price paid for it point rather to "saye" than soie, to say nothing of the otherwise complete absence of French terms in these interesting accounts. PALETOT. Probably a hooded overcoat. The word is directly ■derived from the French, but is further traceable to palla, Latin for a long upper garment, and toque, a cap. Bailey, following Cotgrave, gives ' ' Palletoque, Pallecote (of pallium and toga, L.), a cassock, or short coat, with sleeves." PALL * c [Palla or pallium, L.) A cloth or velvet that covers a coffin at a funeral; also a long robe or mantle worn upon solemn occasions by the Knights of the Garter. Among the Eomish clergy an ornament made of lamb's wool, which the Pope bestows on archbishops, &c, for which they pay a great rate. By their super- stitious order, it should be made of the wool of those two lambs which, being on St. Agnes' Day offered upon the high altar, are, after the hallowing of them, committed to the subdeacons of that church, and kept by them in a pasture appointed. The whole garment is not made of that wool, but only that list or plait of it which falls down before and behind, and encompasses the neck about.* Palla in old records is a canopy such as is borne over a king at his coronation ; also an altar cloth. Bailey." The pallium was originally a mantle or cloak, which, being " less cumbersome and trailing than the toga of the Romans, by degrees superseded the latter in the country and the camp." (Hope : Costume of the Ancients.) The term became padl in Anglo-Saxon, when the garment was made of the most gorgeous fabrics obtainable ; from this circumstance any particularly valuable stuff was known as cloth of pall, until pall in time came to denote the fabric instead of the garment made from it. The word is common, found all through our early literature, and in church inventories. In secular employment we find that the king's daughter, in the Squire of Low Degree, had 44 Mantell of ryche degre, Purple pall and armyne fre." And in the poem of Sir Isumbras — " The rich queen in hall was set, Knights her served at hand and feet In rich robes of pall." In Florice and Blancheflour (14th century) we are told — " The porter is proud withal, Every day he goeth in pall." And in the Poems of Minot, 1352, mention occurs of 11 Princes proud in pall." * A custom which dates back to the 4th century, when it originated with Roman emperors. The popes afterwards possessed themselves of the right, and it came subsequently to signify the confirmation of arcbiepiscopal or even epiieopal appointments. The ornanwn';, simple as it is, has at times been very dearly bought, a& much as from i3,')00 to £4,00U being sometimes paid for it. PAL ( 245 ) PAR In old ballads "purple and pall" is a phrase used to signify purple robes, and "purple" or "purpura," like pall, is frequently used to denote any unusually rich cloth. In an old Christmas carol, quoted by Hone in his Ancient Mysteries, we are told that the infant Saviour. " Neither shall be clothed in purple or in pall, But in fine linen as are babies all." Spensee: Faerie Queene. " He gave her gold and purple pall to weare." Id. : lb. " In a long purple pall, whose skirt with gold Was fretted all about, she was arayd." Id. : lb. " Then crown'd with triple wreath, and cloth'd in scarlet pall." Fletcher : Purple Island. PALLET, Palliasse. Of uncertain etymology. Minshieu derived it from Fr. paille, straw ; Ital. paylii, or L. palea, chaff, because they were first stuffed with chaff or straw. Skinner, from Fr. pied or pie, a, foot, and lict, a bed, that is, a little low bed made of the height of the feet. It is also given from the G selic peall, a skin, pallet. PARAMATTA. An imitation, in cotton and worsted, of merino, deriving its name from Paramatta, a town in New South Wales, pro- bably because the wool of which it was made was imported thence. It was first made with silk warps, and resembled. Coburg. Invented at Bradford, where it soon came to be a prominent manufacture. PARAPES, Peropus, Parop3. A stuff under these varieties of spelling is occasionally met with in 17th-century works. The only clue to its character that we have is in Taylor, the water poet, classing it with taffeta and mochado, as a stuff of mixed manufacture (see Mockado). In the Charter granted by Charles I. to the City, in 1640, we find under stuffs, "paragon or parapos," and in the Hovselwld Boohs of Lord William Hoiuard (1612-1640) several entries of purchases of paragon and peropus, invariably shown separately, so as to lead to the conclusion that they were separate and distinctive fabrics : " 1618. xij yards of water paragon for my Lady at v 3 viij 1 . five yards of French green paragon for my Lady xxv 3 x< J . 1620. iij yardes of ash-coloured peropus, 10s. 6d. xxvj yards of green peropus at iij 3 ij d . 1621. one yard of black paragon iiij 3 iiij d . 1621. ten 'yards of watered peropu3 of iij 3 a yard to make my Ladie a cassock." In Observations on Wool and the Woollen Manufacture, by a Manu- facturer of Northamptonshire, 1739, paragon is shown as a "stuff of combing wool," and James explains it as "a species of double camblet." PARASOL. Obviously a shield or protection from the sun. Donald gives its derivation through Fr. , It., parasole—parare, to hold or keep off ; L. paro, to prepare, to ward off (It. parare, to parry, Webster), and Sol, solis, the sun. " Fr. Parasol or Ombrellc, an umbrella, a fasbion of round and brnad fan wherewith the Indians (and from them our great ones) preserve themselves from the heat of a scorching sun ; and hence any little shadow, fan, or thing PAR ( 246 ) PEL wherewith women liide their faces from the sun. Cotgrave. A little move- able machine in manner of a canopy or umbrella. Bailey." " A little moveable, in manner of a canopy, bore in the hand to screen the head from the sun, rain, &c, more usually called umbrella. It is made of leather, taffety, oil-cloth, &c, mounted on a stick, and opened or shut at pleasure by means of pieces of whalebone that sustain it. The East Indians never stir without a parasol. The word is French. Tbat used against rains is sometimes called parqpluie." Chambers : Cyclopaedia, 1741. Apparently this sun-shield was first used as a mark of dignity among the Romans, and it appears to have been so carried in their religious processions and sacred ceremonies. It came afterwards to be naturally devoted to the practical purpose for which it is used in the present day, and in the application of sticks or wands to admit of the "little moveable," as Chambers styles it, being opened or closed they appear to have anticipated the construction of modern parasols. Similarly, the employment of rich stuffs, and the occasional addition of elaborate embroidery, antedated the very few changes which in our day fashion is enabled to make in its character. (See Umbrella.) PARISIENNES. A stuff introduced in 1842, of which a manufacturer of Bradford stated to the historian of the Worsted Manufacture that it ' ' attracted a great deal of attention, and produced large profits to those engaged in it ; I refer to the figured Orleans called Parisiennes ; perhaps there was never a more decided hit than this. I do not know to whom belongs the merit of its introduction into Bradford. I believe there have been various claimants. It had a most successful run for two or three years, and then expired very suddenly, from a well-known cause, to which I need not here refer. "* PARTLET. A woman's ruff, and hence a name for a hen, from the long feathers about her neck. PATTERN. This word is a corruption of patron (L. patronus, pater, father or protector), one to be copied or followed ; thus a model, an example, and so to the modern usage, which makes the term signify, not only something to be copied, but a specimen. PEA JACKET. From the Dutch pije, a coarse thick cloth ; a jacket made from such cloth. PELISSE. (L. pellis, a skin.) " A Pelisse, if accordant to its name, is a coat of prepared skins, on which the hair has been preserved — a Fur- coat. In this country it is an article of female dress, having sleeves, which distinguishes it from a cloak, or mantle, and covering the whole body from the neck to the ankles. The French, from whom the term is imported, consider a lining, or at least trimmings, of fur as a neces- sary constituent in the dress ; so much so, that they give the name of 1 la pelisse ' to Fur alone ; but in this country Pelisses are often made of woollen cloth, or of silk, even without trimmings." Booth : Ana- lytical English Dictionary) 18.T>. In the time of Edward the Confessor noblemen wore dresses of fur or * It i-. a pity that so much of this m:it(< r was taken for granted. The "well-known cause" is not well-known now, and the writer has failed in his . 1 1 1 . t .-i to trace it. PEN ( 247 ) PER skins ; and in Michel's Chroniques Anglo- N~ormandes,\ 1836, written about 1185, is a curious passage relating to a rencontre on a little bridge between London and Westminster (Strand Bridge probably) between Tosti, Earl of Huntingdon, son-in-law of Earl Godwin, and Si ward, afterwards Earl of Huntingdon whioh runs thus : "The said Earl (Tosti) approached so near to Siward on the bridge that he dirtied his ' pelisse ' (pelles) with his miry feet ; for it was then customary for noblemen to use skins without cloth." (Fairholt). King John ordered a grey pelisson with nine bars of fur to be made for the queen. The ecclesiastical surplice is connected with this robe. Monks having to celebrate early services at all times of the year in cold churches were permitted to wear pettier, coats of skins. A synod held in London in the year 1200 restricted the Black Monks and Nuns (Benedictines) to the use of lamb, cat, and fox skins, with the view of preventing the spread of luxury in dress. These pelisses in time became worn and unsightly and were then covered with linen tunics during divine service. These were styled super '-pellicce, which by an easy transition became surplice . PENNISTON, Pennystone. A coarse frieze taking its name from a small town in the West Riding of Yorkshire (see Frisado). The Act 5 and G Edw. VI. (1551-2) provides that all "Clothes commonlye called Pennystones or Forest Whites whiche shalbe made after the feast aforesaide (of Saincte Michaell tharchangell), shall conteyne in lengthe beinge wett betwixt twelve and thirtene yardes, yarde and ynche as aforesaide " (that is thirty-seven inches of the rule to the yard) "and in bredith sixe quarters and a halfe quarter out of the water at the lest, and beinge well scowred, thicked, mylled, and fullye dried, shall waye twenty-eight pounde the pece at the lest." Pennistons were still in use in De Foe's time, for he includes them, with half-thicks, rugs, and Duffields, among coarse woollens, principally made in Cumberland, Lancashire, and Westmoreland (Compleat English Tradesman). "In the three and fourtieth year of that Queen's reign, the Parliament did interpret that Act to extend over all and siugular of woollen broad clothes, half- clothes, Reviers, cottons, dozens, penistons, frizes, ruggs, and all other woollen clothes." (The Golden Fleece, 1657.) PERPETS, or Long Ells. According to De Foe, made at Tiverton and other places in Devonshire, and also at Sudbury in Suffolk, and Colchester. (British Tradesman, 1738.) Probably an abbreviation of and identical with PERPETUANA. A stuff similar to Lasting (which see). Plauche conjectures it to be "a kind of stamen." Halliwell shows it as " a kind of glossy cloth." Under the Italian word " Duraforte " Florio says : "Strong, endure, lasting strong ; the name of a horse. Also the stuff perpetuana." Although the term "new drapery" remained in use for a very long period as signifying a lighter class of woollen goods than those usually made here, it is probable, when we find perpetuanas included among new drapery by the writers of the 17th century that the phrase in this case is literally correct, since no previous mention of it occurs. At this time it is frequently noticed. In 1622 Gerard Malynes, PER ( 24S ) PET a Netherlander much employed by King James in mercantile and money matters, published a work entitled Lex Mercatoria, in which he makes the quantity of woollen goods, of all sorts, broad and narrow, long and short, made yearly in all England to amount to two hundred and fifty thousand pieces of cloths, besides the new draperies called perpetuanas, &c. (Anderson.) In 1613 John May, a Deputy Alnager, published A Declaration of the State of Clothing now used within this Realm of England, in which he says : "There are some merchants that deal iu stuff termed new drapery, especially in perpetuanas, which are now grown to great use and traffic, but not likely to continue long by their falsehood siDce their making which brought them into distinction ; for where at first their pitch in the loom was twelve hundredths, but now brought to eight hundredths, yet keep their breadth and length. There are also bastard perpetuanas made of says milled, Manchester or Lancashire plains, in form of Kersies, to the discredit of those sorts of goods." Perpetuanas appear among Imports in the time of Charles I. In 1739 they are described as made "of combing and carding wool mixed together, the combing the warp or web, the carding the woof or shoot," as distinct at that period from everlastings, which are shown as- composed "of combing wool." " The Sober Perpetuana suited Puritane, that dares not (so much as by moon- light) come neere the Suburb-shadow of a house, where they set stewed Prunes befor(e) you, raps as boldly at the hatch when he knowes candle-light is within, as if he were a new chosen constable." T. Dekker : The Seven Deadly Sins- of London, 1606. PERSIAN. A thin plain silk, principally employed in linings, and much used for that purpose in coats, petticoats, and gowns in the 18th century. PETTICOAT. Strange as it may seem, this typical female garment lias been worn by men. For the credit of the stronger sex it must, however, be admitted that the petticoat once worn by them was ;«. petty (short) coat, and not in any way akin to the separate skirts of females. In the Inventory of the effects of Sir J. Fastolfe (Archceologia, vol. xxi.) appear — " j Pettecotc of lynen clothe stoffyd with fiokys. j Petticote of lynen clothe without slyves." And amongst the apparel of Henry V. is shown a peticote of red damask with opea sleeves, and valued at ten shillings. The garment, under a wide variety of orthography, frequently occurs in 16th-century inventories ; but then as invariably belonging to, and generally bequeathed by women. In the prologue of a play of 1660, the follow- ing lines, referring to the playing of female parts by men or boys in. M women's weeds," occur: " I come unknown to any of the rest To tell you news, I saw the lady drcst ; The woman plays to-day, mistake me not, No man in gown or page in petty-coat ; A woman to my knowledge, yet I can't (If I should dye) make affidavit on't.'' In all probability this was the first appearance of actresses on the English stage. PHI ( 249 ) PHI " ' What trade art thou, Feeble? ' ' A woman's taylor, sir.' ' Wilt thou make as many holes in an enemy's battle as thou hast done in a woman's petticoat?'" Shakespeare. " Her feet beneath her petticoat, Like little mice stole in and out, As if they fear'd the light." Sir John Suckling (1609-1641). " Short under petticoats, pure, fine, Some of Japan stuff, some Chine, With knee-high galloon bottomed ; Another quilted white and red, With a broad Flanders lace below." John Evelyn: Tyrranus; or, The Mode, 1661. " With my wife, by coach, to the New Exchange, to buy her some things ; where we saw some new-fashion petticoats of sarcenett, with a black broad lace printed round the bottom and before, very handsome, and my wife had a mind to one of them." Pepys : Diary, April 15, 1662. " It is a great compliment to the sex that the virtues are generally shown in petticoats." Addison. " I have been earnestly solicited for a further term for wearing the Farthin- gale by several of the Fair Sex, but more especially by the following petitioners : " ' The humble petition of Deborah Hark, Sarah Threadbare, and Rachael Thimble, Spinsters and Single Women, commonly called waiting -maids, on behalf of themselves and their sisterhood, " « Sheiveth, " ' That your Worship hath been pleased to order ancfoommand that no Per- son or Person^ shall presume to wear quilted Petticoats on forfeiture of the said Petticoats, or on penalty of wearing Ruffs after the Seventeenth instant, noiv expired ; That your Petitioners have time out of mind been entitled to wear their ladies'' clothes or to sell the same, that the sale of the said clothes is spoiled by your Worship's said prohibitions ; Tour Petitioners therefore most humbly pray that your Worship would please to allow that all Gentlewomen's Gentle- women may be allowed to wear the said dress, or to repair the loss of such a Perquisite in such a manner as your Worship shall think fit. " ' And your Petitioners will ever pray, §c.' " I do allow the allegation of this Petition to be just, and forbid all persons but the Petitioners, or those who shall purchase from them, to wear the said garment after the date hereof." Tatler, February, 1709. " To fifty chosen sylphs of special note We trust the important charge, the petticoat ; Oft have we known that sevenfold fence to fail, Though stiff with hoops, and arm'd with ribs of whale." Pope : Rape of the Lock, 1714. PHILIP AND CHENEY. Some kind of ornament, or rather, a sort of stuff. " A goodly share ! 'Twill put a lady scarce in Philip and Cheney, With three small bugle laces." Beaumont and Fletcher. So it is read in both the folio editions. The annotator of 1750 con- jectures Phillipine cheyney, which he says is " a sort of stuff at present ia common use, but goes now by the name of Harrateen."* On what * Harrateens, as well as Cheyneys, are sbo.vn in 1739 as stuffa " of Combine Wool." PHI ( 250 ) PIL authority he decides the identity of these articles he has not told us ; but it is certain that Philip and Cheyney was a current name for some kind of stuff. It is mentioned by Taylor, the water poet : u No cloth of silver, gold, or tissue here, Philip and Cheiny never would appear "Within our bounds." Praise ofUempsecd. At this length of time it is impossible to trace what manner of fabric Philip and Cheyney could be, and conjecture is idle. In fact, that rash conclusion of Phillipiae is enough to check all guesswork. In Lord William Howard's Household Hooks there is shown : " 1624. 10 yeards of crimson in grain chamblet, phillip and china, 40s. 1627. 15 yeardes of waterd Phillip and Chevney for Sir William Howard's children, 27s. 6d." This rather proves the name to denote, not a distinctive stuff (for it was apparently a kind of camlet), but rather a particular pattern. PHILOSELLE. A wrought silk, shown as imported in 1640. A mediaeval rendering of Filoselle. See Floss Silk. PIECE. A part of anything, a single article, a separate performance. (Fr. ; It. pezza, Low L. petium, a piece of land, from Gael peos, W. peth, a part; Breton, pez, a bit; or through It. from Gr. peza, an edge or border. ) Doxald. PILCH. (Pylche, Saxon of peltz, tent ; a furred gown, or a lining of fur.) A piece of flannel to be wrapped about a young child ; a covering for a saddle ; also a fur gown. Bailey. A corruption of the Latin pelliceus, an outer garment of fur used in cold or bad weather. Planchl. Chaucer says, * "After grete hete cometh colde, No man cast his pilche away." They were subsequently made of commoner materials. In The Cobbler ■of Canterbury, 1608, it is said, " His cloak was made for the weather. His pilche made of swine's leather." PILE. Literally, hair, nap of stuffs, as in velvet or plush. From the Latin pilus, or Greek pilos, which both have the same meaning. PILLOW. A cushion filled with feathers for resting the head on ; any cushion {OldG. pilwe, A.-S. pyle, Dutch peluur, akin to L. pulvinUM ; according to Wedgwood ircm pluma, a feather). Donald. PILLOW LACE. " This is a work in gold, silver, silk, or linen, made upon a cushion by the use of a great number of small bobbins, a design traced upon paper, and two .sorts of pins, and which may be looked upon as a composition of gauze, weaving, and embroidery. Of embroidery, because there are many ' points ' and thick threads introduced; of weaving, for there are parts where there are proper warp ami weft, and where the tusne Lfl t he sun, a> that <>f the weaver ; <>i gauze, because patterns ure executed apoo it, and the threads which might have been considered as being warp and weft are often withdrawn from each other by < Of three things, one i- accessary in making Lace upon ;i : i:. hither to compose or make it from one's own ideas, which, supposes PIN ( 251 ) PIN imagination, design, taste, knowledge of many ' points,' facility of employing them, and even invention of other meshes ; or to be able to work out a pattern given upon paper ; or to copy lace already made, given for the purpose, which supposes less talent but perfect knowledge of the art. It is then usually necessary to copy from designs pricked carefully upon vellum ; the art of the ' piquer ' is to discern exactly the points where the pins must be placed, in order to keep out the threads in the proper position to form the designed meshes, &c, to ascertain by careful examination all the ' points ' needful to carry out the course of working ; composed, as it is, of sometimes intermingled points, and sometimes points succeeding each other. If a mesh be triangnlar three pins would be necessary ; if quadrangular, four, and one pin must also be placed in the centre to produce the opening required." (Encyc. Fran- See Lace. PIN. (W. pin, a pin, a pen; Gael, plane, a pin, plug, peg; Du. pinne, a point, prick, peg ; Latin, pinna, a fin, a turret, a pinnacle.) The form of the element pin in signifying a pointed object is also seen in Latin spina, a thorn, and in pinus, a fir-tree, tree with sharp-pointed leaves; in G. called nadeln, needles. Wedgwood. Literally, a feather, a sharp-pointed instrument, especially for fastening articles together ; anything that holds parts together ; a peg used in musical in- struments for fastening the strings ; anything of little value. (W., Gael., and Ger. pinne, L. pinna or penna, a feather.) Donald : Chambers's Etymological English Dictionary. Bailey gives it from espingle, Fr., or spina, Latin, a thorn, a derivation far more consistent with the early history of this " small brass utensil^ " thorns apparently having early been in use in all countries as a ready and cheap substitute for an article which, although of little worth now, was then intrinsically valuable. Naturally pins fastening outer garments were made mediums •if display. " Some magnificent specimens of Saxon pins are engraved in the Archceological Album ; and one in the possession of Lord Albert Conyngham, found in a barrow at "Wingham, Kent, has the stem of brass, the head of gold ornamented with red and blue stones and filigree work. A magnificent pin of the 14th century is exhibited as fastening the pall on the effigy of John Stratford, Archbishop of Canter- bury (died 1348), in the cloisters of Canterbury 4 Cathedral." (Fairholt.) Metal pins, frequently of elaborate manufacture and of valuable metal, have been found in Egyptian tombs, and may have been used either for the hair or breast. Pins of more ordinary materials were much used, and specimens of Eoman bone pins are commonly found in the course of excavations in London, and are as frequent in British barrows. Planche says that "pins for general purposes were used as early as the the reign of Edward I. ; " but admits immediately after that they were "expensive in the 13th and 14th centuries, and were consequently given as presents by lovers to their mistresses ; " so that it is not likely that the purposes for which they were employed could have been very general. Indeed, from the fact that all pins made in this country at that period must have been tediously and carefully elaborated of bone, or ivory, or metal, or if imported must have been proportionately dear, it is patent that pins of any sort must then have been very scarce and highly prized. The term pin-money dates back to this period. Dr. Brewer says, " Long after the invention of pins, in the 14th century, the maker was allowed to sell them in open shop only the 1st and 2nd PIN ( 232 ) PIN of January. It was then that the Court ladies and City dames flocked to the depots to buy them, having been first provided with money by their husbands. When pins became cheap and common, the ladies spent their allowances on other fancies ; but the term pin-money remained in vogue." (Diet, of Phrase and Fable.) A similar practice was carried outm France. According to Chambers, "One of the articles of the ancient pin-makers of Paris was, that no master should open more than one shop for the sale of his wares, except on New Year's Day and the eve thereof ; this we mention in an age of luxury and profusion, to recollect the agreeable simplicity of our forefathers, who contented them- selves with giving pins for New Years' gifts." It appears also from this author that pin-money formed at one time a constituent part of bargains; for he continues, " Hence the custom of still giving the name pins, or pin-money, to certain presents which accompany the most con- siderable bargains, in which it is usual to give something towards the wife or children of the person with whom the bargain is struck." {Cyclopedia, 1741.) Judging from the readiness with which nearly every fact con- nected with the early import of pins is disputed, the little article i-j one exciting considerable interest. One accouut gives the credit of the first introduction of pins of brass wire to Anne of Austria, queen of Richard II. ; but in the previous reign, in 1347 [Liber Garderobce, 12-16 Edward III., P.R.O.), we have a charge for twelve thousand pin3 for the outfit of Joanna, daughter of Edward .III., betrothed to Peter the Cruel ; a quantity hardly consistent with any other kind of pins than those of common metal. Again, it is often affirmed that Catherine Howard first imported pins from France in 1540, on which point Dr. Brewer says, " It i3 quite an error to suppose that pins were invented in the reign of Francois I., and introduced into Eng- land by Catherine Howard, the fifth wife of Henry VIII In 1400 (more than a century before Francois ascended the throne) the Duchess of Orleans purchased of Jehanle Breconner, espinglier, of Paris, several thousand long and short pins, besides five hundred de la facon . "The ooloor of plnah or velvet will appear varied if you Btroak part of it one of it anothi r. B POO ( 259 ) POL POCKET. (Pocca, A.-S. ; poke, JBelg. ; poche or pochette, Fr.) A pouch or bag. They first appear in illuminations of the time of Edward III. POINT. A general term used for all kinds of lace wrought with the needle ; such are the point de Venise, the point de France, point de Genoa, Brussels point, point d'Alengon, and others. This latter is the principal modern point lace, and those of older standing comprise ancient laces of Italy, Spain, and Portugal. POINT NET. Literally, needle-made net. For the manufacture of this by machinery a patent was taken out in 1781. From that time to 1815 point-net contributed more than anything else to the prosperity of Nottingham. POINTS. Lace3 or ties, frequently having ornamental tags, and, as often used in the 16th and 17th centuries, so profusely employed to secure different parts of dress as to form a trimming, sometimes to make quite a fringe. The chief seat of the manufacture was at Bristol, as will be seen by a reference to Pin ; and Stafford, who wrote, in 1581, A Compendious Examination of certain ordinary Complaints of divers of our ■Countrymen in these our Bays, says, "Bristow had a great trade by the making of points, and that was the chief mystery that was exercised in the town." Manchester afterwards made " pojnts of lace " in large quantities. Points were by several Acts of Parliament forbidden at different times to be imported, the earliest prohibition occurring in 1464. " Their points being broken, Down fell their hose." 1 Henry IV. " Clo. But I am resolved on two points. Mar. That if one break, the other will hold ; or if both break, your gaskins will fall." Twelfth Night. " Truss my points, sir." Eastward Hoe, 1605. " This point was scarce well truss'd." Lingua, 1607. POLDAVIS. A coarse linen. (See Linen.) "We have the best authority for ascribing the date of the first manufacturing of Sail Cloth in England to the year 1590, the preamble to an Act of Parliament of the first year of King James I., cap. xxiii., reciting that 'whereas the cloths called mildernix, and powl-davies, whereof sails and other furni- ture for the shipping and navy are made, were heretofore altogether brought out of France and other parts beyond sea, and the skill and art of making and weaving of the said cloths never known or used in England until about the thirty-second year of the reign of the late Queen Elizabeth' — that is, in the year 1590 — 'about which time, and not before, the perfect art or skill of making and weaving the said cloths was attained to, and since practised and continued in this realm, to the great benefit and commodity thereof, &c.' " Anderson. POLECAT (fur). A kind of weasel, which emits an offensive smell ; also known as Fitch (which see), and anciently as Foumart. Bailey ■suggests a derivation from Polonian cat, because they were formerly s 2 POP ( 260 ) . POW common in Poland, but the explanation is of doubtful accuracy. (Fr. pulent, stinking.) POPLIN. A mixed material of silk and worsted (Fr. papeline). "The French papeline has its weft of flask silk (fleuret), but the English imitation is with worsted." Booth. " Spanish poplins" and " Venetian poplins " were known to the trade in the earlier part of the last century, but it is not possible at this lapse of time to trace the distinction these terms denoted. The stuff has, from its first intro- duction into this kingdom by the refugees who fled hither on the revo- cation of the Edict of Nantes, been a peculiarly distinct Irish industry, and even yet it remains so. From time to time efforts are made to stimulate its production by means of official or State patronage, but generally with very slight success, and Ireland, strangely enough, finds her best market for this beautiful fabric in India. It is very difficult to trace the progress of this manufacture. Arthur Young, in his Tour w Ireland, 1778, says: "The tabinets and popltns of Ireland (a fabric partly of woollen, partly of silk), did that island possess a greater free- dom in the woollen trade, would find their way to a successful market throughout all the south of Europe ; " and it appears, even at that early period, to have been of excellent repute. Lord Sheffield, writing in 1785, says that Irish "tabinets and poplins are well known and admired everywhere." But as a manufacture of two materials it is not known where to look for statistics of its extent. The writer last quoted on this head states : " When a parcel of wool is not fit for broad cloth it is applied to the manufacture of worsteds, the finest part to hose, and, to worsteds for mixing with silk, viz., poplins and tabinets, from Is. 3d. to 6s. 6d. per yard," and, after enumerating several other worsted stuffs, continues, ' ' In many of these branches Ireland excels ; her poplins and tabinets are beautiful, especially as to colour ; but as the}' have the appearance of silk, and in great part are made of it, they should be more properly ranked under that article." Poplin, as a distinct item, does not appear in any tables of rates or statements of trade at this period ; but we learn that there were then in Dublin some 1,500 silk manufacturers, most of whom would be engaged in the poplin, trade, as the other silk stuffs of Irish manufacture at the latter end of the 18th century, consisting of some damasks, lutestrings, and hand- kerchiefs, were of trifling extent. There are at present four poplin factories in Dublin. Many poplins now made have not a particle of silk in their structure, but are composed of worsted and flax or worsted and cotton, to the great detriment of their appearance, wear, and reputation. POWER LOOM. Automatic looms, constructed to be worked by other than manual labour, once frequently driven by water, but now almost wholly by steam power. Dr. Gennes, a French naval officer,, published in 1768 the description of a " new engine to make linen cloth without the aid of an artificer," which practically anticipated the modern power loom, and to this futile endeavour to supersede hand labour is generally ascribed the honour of first attempting to facilitate production. Lewil Paul, thirty years previous, had constructed and patented a maobine with that object, although, as with that of De Gennes, nothing came of it, aboat 1750 a swivel loom was produced by POW ( 2G1 ) POW Vaucanson, and tried in 1765 at Manchester. The next endeavour was made in 1784 by a Kentish clergyman,* and with so much success that modern machines are only modifications of his first power loom, although, after spending a sum of from £30,000 to £40,000 in patent fees, experi- ments, and efforts to establish his inventions, he yet had ultimately to abandon all hope of success. The one obstacle which defied all efforts to obviate it was the tenderness of the warp-yarn, which frequently broke, and then necessitated the stoppage of the machine to join it. Subsequently the warp was dressed to strengthen it, but as the machine * Dr. Cartwright has himself narrated the use andprogress of his invention : " Happening to be at Matlock in the summer of 1784, I fell in company with some gentlemen of Manchester, when the conversation turned on Arkwright's spinning machinery. One of the company observed, that as soon as Arkwright's patent expired, so many mills would be erected and so much cotton spun that hands never could be found to weave it. To this observation I replied, that Arkwright must then set his wits to work to invent a weaving mill. This brought on a conversation on the subject, in which the Manchester gentlemen unanimously agreed that the thing was impracticable ; and, in defence of their opinion, they adduced arguments which I certainly was incompetent to answer, or even to comprehend, being totally ignorant of the subject, having never at that time seen a person weave. I controverted, however, the impracticability of the thing by remarking, that there had lately been exhibited in London an automaton figure w*hich played at chess. 'Now, you will not assert, gentlemen,' said I, ' that it is more difficult to construct a machine-that shall weave, than one which shall make all the variety of moves which are required in that com- plicated game.' " Some little time afterwards, a particular circumstance recalling this con- versation to my mind, it struck me that, as in plain weaving, according to the conception I then had of the business, there could only be three movements, which were to follow each other in succession, there would be little difficulty in producing and repeating them. Full of these ideas, I immediately employed, a carpenter and smith to carry them into effect. As soon as the machine was finished, I got a weaver to put in the warp, which was of such materials as sail- cloth is usually made of. To my great delight, a piece of cloth, such as it was, was the produce. As I had never before turned my thoughts to anything mechanical, either in theory or practice, nor had ever seen a loom at work, or knew anything of its construction, you will readily suppose that my first loom was a most rude piece of machinery. The warp was placed perpendicularly, the reed fell with the weight of at least half a hundred weight, and the springs which threw the shuttle were strong enough to have thrown a Congreve rocket. In short, it required the strength of two powerful men to work the machine at a slow rate, and only for a short time. Conceiving, in my great simplicity, that I had accomplished all that was required, I then secured what I thought a most valuable property by a patent, 4th April, 1785. This being done, I then condescended to see how other people wove ; and you will guess my astonish- ment when I compared their easy modes of operation with mine. Availing myself however, of what I then saw, I made a loom, in its general principles nearly as they are now made. But it was not till the year 1787 that I completed my invention, when I took out my last weaving patent, August 1st of that year." The first endeavour to make use of this invention took place at Doncaster, where the principal part of Dr. Cartwright's expenditure occurred. Another effort was made on a large scale at Manchester in 1791, under a license from the patentee, but the mill, calculated to hold four hundred looms, was burnt down by incendiaries. Dr. Cartwright then gave up attempting to profit by his discovery, but in 1808 a public grant of £10,000 was made to him as some compensation for his outlay and disappointments. PHI ( 262 ) ^ PHI still had to be stopped at intervals, and a man needed to be employed at each loom for the purpose. The cost of this still prevented the machines paying their way, and the difficulty was not overcome until 1804 by the invention of the dressing machine, which dressed the warp before it entered the loom, but the cost of the perfecting of the apparatus, and the unremitting devotion paid to its progress by Radcliffe and Ross, the patentees, brought them embarrassment, so that they failed two or three times, and the adoption of the power loom was again retarded. In the meanwhile power looms had been patented in 1794 by Bell, of Glasgow, in 1796 by Miller, of Glasgow, and in 1803 by Horrocks, of Stockport. In 1806 another power loom was patented by Marsland, of Stockport, but it proved too complex, although it wove superior cloth. " Horrocks's loom is the one which has now come into general use. . . Horrocks, sharing the common destiny of iftventors, failed, and sunk into poverty. This retarded the adoption of the machine; but, in- dependently of this, the power loom and dressing machine came very slowly into use. In 1813 there were not more than 100 of the latter machines, and 2,400 of the former in use. Yet this was enough to alarm the hand-loom weavers, who, attributing to machinery the distress caused by the Orders in Council and the American war, made riotous opposition to all new machines, and broke the power looms set up at West Hampton, Middleton, and other places." Baines. By 1820 some 14,000 looms were at work in England and Scotland, in 1829 about 55,000, a number estimated to have increased to 100,000 in 1833. It is com- puted that there are now over 725,000 power looms employed in England and Ireland, of which some 516,000 are taken up by the cotton trade. PRICE. The sum at which anything is prized, valued, or bought. PRINT. A contraction of "printed calicoes," now firmly established in our language. The application of dyes or colouring substances to linen or cotton fabrics has a very remote antiquity. Strabo, on the authority of Nearchus, the admiral to whom Alexander entrusted the survey of Indus (b.c. 327), mentions the fine flowered cottons or chintzes and beautiful dyes of the Indians, and Pliny says that dyed linen was first seen by the Greeks of that expedition ; so that it is most probable that this art had its origin in the East. The author of the Periplus of the Eyrthrcean Sea likewise notices the calicoes, muslins, and other cottons, both plain and ornamented with flowers, brought from India. From the stationary character of Indian civilization, it is conjectured that the printing of calicoes may have existed in that country for untold ages, and long before any account of the printed fabrics obtained currency. This is the more remarkable on account of the greater skill needed to fix colours in linen or cotton rather than in wool or silk. A notice of the process shown by Pliny to have been practised by the ancient Egyptians has already been given.* Homer notices the variegated linen cloths of Sidon as magnificent productions, and Herodotus, who wrote more than four hundred years before the Christian era, says that "the inhabitants of Caucasus adorned their garments with figures of animals, by means of an infusion of the leaves of a tree, and the colours thus obtained were said to be very durable." * See Dyking. PRr ( 263 ) PRI " During several centuries the art of calico printing was practised in Asia Minor and the Levant, but it was scarcely known in Europe till the close of the 17th century, when Augsburg became celebrated for its coloured cottons and linens c From that city the manufacturers of Alsace and Switzerland, during a long period, obtained their colour mixer?, dyers, &c." (Tomlinson.) The introduction of the process into this country is stated by Anderson to have taken place in 1676, and to have been "first set on foot in London," and probably came then through Holland, the Dutch East India Company having intro- duced the Indian chintzes before they were brought into this country ; although Mr. James Thompson, a scientific and accomplished calico printer at Primrose, near Clitheroe (an authority on whom Baines places dependence), in his evidence before a Select Committee of the House of Commons on trade, manufactures, and shipping, in 1833, informed the committee that, "the original of printing of England dated from about the year 1690, when a small print ground was established on the banks of the Thames, at Richmond, by a Frenchman, who in all probability was a refugee after the revocation of the Edict Nantes. The first large establishment was at Bromley Hall in Essex : ic btood No. 1 in the Excise books when the duty was first imposed, showing that it was at that time the most considerable manufactory of printed calicoes near London." But it is plain that the colouring of linen fabrics was known and practised here long before 167£. Anderson himself quotes from the second volume of Hakluyt's Voyages, to show that Hakluyt gave, in 1579, directions to Morgan Hubblethorne, a dyer, to proceed to Persia and endeavour to discover, among other things, the manner of dying there; where, he says, "persons stain linen cloth; it hath been an old trade in England, whereof some excellent cloths yet remain ; although the art be now lost in this realm." The specific mention of staining leaves no doubt of the process employed., or we might have concluded that painted or printed cloth, so frequently mentioned in early literature,* was intended. But other evidence is available to disprove the date assigned by Anderson to the birth of calico printing in this country. Sir Joshua Child, a distinguished director of the East * Painted clotli, as a species of hangings for rooms, is very frequently men- tioned in old authors, and has generally been supposed and explained to mean tapestry ; but was really cloth, or canvas, painted in oil, with various devices and mottoes. Tapestry, being both more costly and less durable, was much less used, except in splendid apartments ; nor, though coloured, could it properly be called painted. In the accounts of Corpus Xti. Gild, Coventry, 1 Henry VIII., is a charge for painting part of the hall " and for the clothe, and the peynting of the hyng- yng that hongs at the hy deys next the seyd cupburd." This and the following information were supplied by the kindness of Mr. T. Sharp, of Coventry, a most accurate and diligent antiquary: "The old council house at S. Mary's Hall in Coventry exhibited " (says Mr. S.) " till 1812 a very perfect specimen of the painted cloth hangings.'' " This -painted cloth was put up early in the reign of Eliz., and is still pre- served, but was removed from its situation in 1812 by the Corporation, being much decayed." " Mayster Thomas Moore, in hys youth, devysed in hys father's house in London, a goodly hangyng of fiyne paynted clothe with nyne pageauntes, and verses over every of those pageauntes." Sir Thos. More. PHI ( 264 ) PRI India Company, in a pamphlet published in 1677, mentions that calicoes were then brought over from India to be printed* in this country, in imitation of the Indian chintzes. In 1634, apparently, attempts were likewise made, probably with a view of producing a cheaper article, to ornament fabrics with coloured patterns by mechanical means, for in that year Charles I. granted an exclusive patent for fourteen years for the art or mystery of affixing wool, silk, and other materials of divers colours upon linen, silk, or cotton cloth, leather, and other substances, by means of oil, size, and other cements, to make them useful for hangings, &c, the patentee paying 103. yearly to the Exchequer. (Ure.) About this period, and for some time previous, the supply of coloured cottons was almost entirely derived from India. In 1700 the import of Indian printed goods was prohibited for the . protection of home silk and woollen industries, with which these cheaper fabrics were held to interfere ; but this only served to stimulate the production of English prints to meet a continued demand which was thus deprived of its chief supply. Plain Indian calicoes were still admitted on payment of duty, and these were printed here in such quantities that successive duties were imposed on them in 1712 and 1714, only half the rates being laid upon printed linens,* with the pur- It was considered as a cheap and vulgar hanging. In Wye Salstonstall's Pictures Loquentes, a con ntry alehouse is thus deocribed : " The inward hangings is a painted cloatli with a row of ballets painted on it." " G. But what says the painted cloth ? ' Trust not a woman when she cries, For she'll pump water from her eyes, With a wet finger, and in faster show'rs Than Aprill when he rains down flowers.' " W. Aye, but, George, that painted cloth is worthy to be hanged up for lying." Dekker. " Who feares a sentence, or an old man's saw, Shall by & painted cloth be kept in awe." — Nares Rape of Lucrece. * The Inspector-General of Customs furnished the author of The History of the Cotton Manufacture with the following tabular statement of Excise Duties on printed Cotton Goods : " Duties commenced July 20, 1712. Per Yard. Calicoes printed, stained, painted, or dyed . . . . 3d. yard wide. From August 2, 1714, additional duty of like amount. Total " 6d. do. August 17, 1774. Stuffs wholly made of cotton spun in Great Britain, called ' British Manufactory ' . . 3d. per yard. April 5, 1779. 5 per cent, additional on the former duty. April 5, 1782. A second 5 per cent, as before. July 25, 1782. A third 5 per cent, as before. October 1, 1784. Duties on cotton stuffs, and cotton and linen mixed, bleached or dyed : not being linen gauzes sprigged with cotton, viz. : Under 3s. per yard in value Id. per yard and 15 per cent, thereon. At 3s. do, or upwards 2d. do. do. PHI ( 265 ) PHI pose of promoting the printing of home-made goods, an object still kept in view by the ridiculous Act of 1720, which placed prohibitory- penalties upon both sellers and wearers of any manner of printed calicoes save such a? were dyed all blue — a law which confined the printers entirely to linens. A work entitled, A Plan of the English Commerce, 1728,* shows the effect of these laws : " I proceed to another visible increase of trade, which spreads daily among us, and affects not England only, but Scotland and Ireland also, though the consumption depends wholly upon England, and that is, the printing or paint- ing of linen. The late Acts prohibiting the use and wearing of painted calli- coes either in clothes, equipages, or house furniture, were without question aimed at improving the consumption of our woollen manufacture, and in part it had an effect that way. But the humour of the people running another way, and being used to and pleased with the light, easie, and gay dress of the callieoes, the callicoe printers fell to work to imitate those callieoes by making the same stamps and impressions, and with the same beauty of colours, upon linen, and thus they fell upon the two particular branches of linen called Scots cloth and Irish linen. So that this is an article wholly new in trade, and indeed the printing itself is wholly new ; for it is but a few years ago since no such thing as painting or printing of linen or callicoe was known in England ; all being supplied so cheap and performed so very fine in India, that nothing but a pro- hibition of the foreign printed callieoes could raise it up to a manufacture at home ; whereas now it is so increased, that the parliament has thought it of magnitude sufficient to lay a tax upon it, and a considerable revenue is raised by it." Another passage in the same work shows this prohibitive policy as being generally followed : " The callieoes are sent by the Indies by land into Tharkey, by land and seas into Muscovy and Tartary, and about by long sea into Europe and America, till in general they are become a grievance, and almost all the European nations but the Dutch restrain and prohibit them." The Dutch at this time took from us all the chintzes and printed India silks imported here, the Act of 1700 permitting those fabrics to be brought into the country for re-exportation. They thus took, between 1702 and 1705, of these goods nearly £95,000 worth annually, creating some apprehension lest we were working for their profit. Aug. 1, 1785. The above [last mentioned] repealed, and new duties, viz. : Mixed or cotton stuffs : d. Of greater value than Is. 8d., and not more than 3s. 2j i% per yard, do. 2s. 6d. .. .. .. ..3|i-o do. British muslins : Of greater value than Is. 8d., and not more than 3s. 2\ -^o do. do. 3s. 4|^o do- May 10, 1787. The whole of the above repealed, and new duties in lieu thereof, viz. : British Manufactory and British muslins . . . . 3J per square yard. (Foreign calicoes or muslins printed here were charged double this duty.) These rates continued until the repeal of the duty, March 1, 1831." In addition to these duties the printer had to pay a licence of £10, imposed in 1784, afterwards increased to £20. The duty was returned on export. That on printed silks, which in 1803 was 7d. the square yard, was repealed in 1826, at which time it yielded a net annual revenue of £19,800. The revenue from printed cottons immediately previous to its repeal was £529,000. * Attributed to Defoe. PHI ( 266 ' ) PHI Davenant, an enlightened writer of that period, argued for the restric- tions being relaxed. He says that it does not appear to him from any observation he can make "that East India goods have hurt the general traffic of our woollen manufactures in foreign markets : these silks and scuffs seem rather a commodity calculated for the middle rank of people, they are too vulgar to be worn by the best sorb, and too costly for the lowest rank, so that the use of them remains in the middle rank, who (the luxuries of the world still increasing) would wear European silks if they had not East India staffs and painted calicoes, whereby the vent of our woollen goods abroad would certainly be lessened." The English printing trade continued to flourish, after a fashion, since it did not diminish or decay. It was principally carried on in and near London, and in 1750 was estimated to produce fifty thousand pieces . But shortly after a great change came over the industry, consequent upon the introduction of block printing by Robert Peel, grandfatner of the baronet who afterwards became Premier. Robert Peel was originally a small farmer, but relinquished his farm to enter the cotton trade, and formed the design of introducing mechanical printing. The first blocks he cut with his own hands, with the pattern of a parsley leaf ; he fixed a handle in the back of each block, and drove a pin in each of the corners of the front, so as to afford a guide in the regular distribution of the pattern. Each impression was made separately upon a piece of calico stretched upon a table, and his wife and daughters ironed it out when finished with a flat-iron ; but this latter process proving tedious, Peel invented the mangle to supersede it. He kept his secret to himself and rapidly acquired reputation and riches. These early prints fetched frequently as much as three shillings a yard, and Peel and his partner Yates are said to have averaged a profit of a guinea per piece. When increased production and keen competition had brought down this profit to half that amount, Peel "thought it was time to give up business." The admission of English calicoes for printing in 1774 gave a new- impetus to the industry, which was further changed by the invention of cylinder printing in 1785. This method effected an enormous saving of labour, so that one machine, attended by a man and a boy, turned out as much printed cloth — and cloth printed far more accurately — as could have been produced by the united labour of 200 persons. Several improvements, chiefly connected with the reproduction and engraving of patterns, have been introduced into cylinder printing ; but the cylinder process has not been materially altered, and is still employed to produce some three-fourths of modern prints, although the old method of hand printing still obtains with some high-class goods. The duty on printed goods was entirely repealed in 1831, and the pro- duction in consequence increased from 8,000,000 pieces in that year to 20,000,000 in 1851. The subsequent history of printed goods relates mainly to chemical processes and discoveries in dyeing, which would be entirely out of place here. A clear and interesting account of these, with descriptions of the ingredients employed, will be found in a contribution to a Handbook of Dyeing and Calico Printing, by Crookes, or in an abbreviated but still instructive form in a contribution to the series of British Manufacturing Industries. PRO ( 267 ) PTJK PROFIT. Literally, a making or moving forward ; gain ; the gain resulting from the employment of capital; advantage ; benefit; improve- ment. (Fr., It. profitto, ~L.profectus — proftcio, profectum, to go forward — pro, forwards, and facto, to make.) Donald. PRUNELLA, Prunello. A stuff only rescued from complete oblivion by Pope's famous couplet : " Worth makes the man, and want of it the fellow, The rest is all but leather or prunello." Essay on Man. The word comes from the Fr. prunelle, and is conjectured to have been derived from the material having originally been of a plum (prune) colour ; or, according to Bailey, from Brignoles, the place where it was first made. It was a coarse kind of shalloon, once universally worn by the clergy in gowns or upper garments. PUKE. This word is often met with in mediseval accounts, and refers both to a colour and a stuff. Puke in the former sense was a shade between black and russet, and according to Todd is derived from the French puce, flea colour. But it is manifest from many instances that a stuff of this name was once widely worn. In the Wardrobe Accounts of Edward IV. there is a charge "for making and lyning of vj pair of hosen of puke lyned with cloth," and other entries of "hosen of puke," "iij quarters of puke for to make iij paire of hosen," " hosen, ij paire green, ij paire blac puke." In Gage's History of Hengrave the word frequently occurs, but in a manner whicb, says Nicolas, leaves it " doubtful whether it means the cMour or the material, for immediately after gowns of scarlet, violet, sad-colour, and russet, follow 'an olde gowne of puke furred with badger coarse,' 'an old gowne of puke forefaced with velvett, and lyned with satten of Cyprus.' " But if there is any doubt on the point the following instances of the stuff being held by provincial tradesmen will show conclusively that puke was the name of a distinctive material, and give some idea of the price it fetched. In the stock of Richard Gurnell, a Kendal clothier (1555), appear : " vj yards of black puck, 18s. v quartors of pucke, 2s." In that of James Backhouse, of Kirbye-in-Lonsdaile (1578), " ij yeards of hrode pucke, 8s." In that of William Walton, of Durham, draper (1566), " a pooke viij yerds, 44s. a pook viij yerds, 40s. a pooke vij yerds, 35s." And in " the lytele shop " of John Wilkenson, of Newcastle, merchant (1571), " iiij yeardes § of blak pewk, 18s. j yeard iij q s of blak pewk, 7s. j yeard and | of blak pewk, £1." Shakespeare also uses the term as an epithet (which has its point in that dark-coloured stockings were then thought reproachful), wheu Prince Henry, in King Henry IV., says to Falstaff : " Wilt thou not rob this leathern jerkin, crystal-button, nott-pated, agate- ring, puke-stocking, caddis-garter, smooth tongue, Spanish-pouch?" PUL ( 268 ) PUR PULLICATES. A kind of cotton handkerchiefs once in great demand ; but principally for exportation. The rise of the manufacture here came about in this manner: "A species of pale orange-coloured handker- chief, distinguished by the name of Madras, being in extensive repu- tation in the Caraccas and other Spanish settlements in South America, at the period of the capture of Trinidad, in 1795, patterns were procured by some British traders, who ordered very large quantities to be manu- factured in Scotland of the same quality and appearance. With such effect were these imitated in dye, in finishing, and even in the packages, tbat some hundreds of pieces % sent to London for exportation were actually seized at the Custom House as India goods, either illegally imported, or stolen from some of the Company's ships in the river. A scrutiny, however, clearly ascertained that these goods were not Indian, but British, and that no trespass either against the privileges or the property of the Company had been even attempted. The goods were of course released and permitted to proceed to their destination, where, after examination and trial, it was found totally unnecessary longer to conceal their real origin ; and a very extensive trade through direct channels has been since carried on for similar goods." Encyclopedia JBrittanica. PURFLE. A kind of border, hem, or rather trimming of gowns. Palsgrave, in 1530, translates " Purfyll, a hemme of a gowne " by "bort." In the 37th of Edward III. esquires and gentles below the rank of knight who had not land of the value of £100 a year, and their wives, daughters, and children, were forbidden to wear " ascun revers on purfil." Chaucer, speaking of the Monk, says, " I saw his sieves purfiled at the hcnd, With gris, and that the finest of the lond." Eleanor, Lady Walsyngham, bequeathed her daughter "a purfle of sable" in 1506. In the inventory of the effects of of Sir J. Fastolfe is " j gowne of blewe felwett upon f el wet longe furred with martyns and perfold of the same, slevys single." (Archaologia.) PURL. According to Bailey " a kind of edging for Bone Lace," and a contraction from Fr. purfle or pourflle, but given by modern etymologists as having a common root with the purling or rippling brook, and denoting a ripple, like edging of lace. (Sw. porla, Bu. borrelen, Ger. perlen, to bubble. ) A pleat or fold of a muff or band. (Fairholt.) Also a species of lace of gold, silver, or other metal used for the edging of ruffs or ruffles, and the trimming of various articles. It is called in French canetille. " Purl. Border, hem, fringe, stitch, work, a twist of gold or silver. It is a term still used in knitting. It means an inversion of the stitches, which gives to the work in those parts in which it is used a different appearance to the general surface. The seams of the stockings, the alternate ribs, aud what arc called the ' clocks ' are purled." (Halliwell.) A narrow braid, much in use at the present day for bordering needlework, is called "pearl edging ; " an orthographical error, but no doubt in itself a modern illustration of the " purl edging " of the 16th ■century. (Planch*:.) PUR ( 269 ) PUR " I have seen him sit discontented a whole play, because one of the purls of his band was fallen out of his reach to order again." Amends for Ladies, 1618. PURPLE. This name appears, like pal], to have been indiscriminately given to fine cloths irrespective of their colour, the confusion of tongues arising first from the great estimation in which stuffs dyed of purple were once held, and from the finest fabrics only being used to receive such costly dyes. The estimation in which purple was held dates back to a very remote period. The word is exceedingly common in the Scriptures, appearing even there to sometimes signify a stuff of the name, or a stuff of which the texture was lost sight of in the value of the colour. The traditional discovery of purple by a dog, which, biting the mollusc from which the dye was derived, had its mouth stained with the colour, is well known,* but it has also been attributed to the Phoenician Hercules, a great navigator. It is certain that the best dyes were obtained from these molluscs. There is no reason to doubt the circumstantial relation of Pliny, who gives the names of the molluscs used in preparing the colour, and an account of the manner of preparation. But it. is almost equally certain that the name of Tyrian purple (the discovery being alleged to have been made and the manufacture carried on on the shores about Tyre) was given to more fabrics than could possibly have been made or dyed at Ty re > or even dyed elsewhere from the secretions of the purpura. In the time of Nero the wearing of purple without his authority jwas punished with, death ; a restrictive law which probably indicates that the use of the colour was previously common, although that particular sort of it known as Tyrian purple may, from its very great cost, have been confined to the use of the wealthy. This restriction could scarcely be against the use of all purple-dyed cloths, or if so, it must have remained in force for only a short time ; otherwise, it was irreconcilable with other notices of about the same period. In the list of imports and exports, both before and after the time of this restriction, and even during the reiga of Nero, among other articles, are named purple cloth, "fine and ordinary," and mention was made of a number of places where a trade in this colour was carried on, showing such a trade to have been pretty general. And about the same period we find mention made of a woman, Lydia, being a seller of purple, which could hardly be if the use of the colour or tint was so restricted. We think there must have been some peculiarity about this restricted purple which is not well understood. Respecting the cost and durability of Tyrian purple, it is related that Alexander the Great found in the treasury of the Persian monarch five thousand quintals of Hermione purple of great beauty, and 180 years old, and that it was worth £25 of our money per pound weight. The price of dyeing a pound of wool in the time of Augustus is given by Pliny, and this price is about equal to £32 of our money. It is probable that his remarks refer to some particular tint or quality of colour easily distinguished, although not at all clearly defined by Pliny. He * " The dyeing of purple was first invented at Tyre, and that, as Julius Pollux saith, by a mere accident. A dog having seized upon the fish called Conchilis or Purpura, and thereby stained his lips with that delightful colour ; this led to the discovery, and it was afterwards the richest and most desirable colour to persons of the greatest quality, for ages together." Heylin : Cosmographie, PUR ( 270 ) QUI mentions a sort of purple or hyacinth, which was worth, in the time of Julius Csesar, 100 denarii (about £3 of our money) per pound. Again, in describing the dye, he says that 100 lbs. of the liquor of the pelagium or purpura could be purchased at about 50 denarii (30s.), the liquor of the buccinum being double that price ; also that 50 lbs. of wool required 200 lbs. of the liquor of the buccinum and 110 lbs. of the purpura to dye a durable colour like the amethyst. Now this would only be about 3s. per lb. of wool ; and this, at the time when it was death to wear the colour, is, not easily reconciled. Indeed, so much confusion exists in the statements concerning this Tyrian purple that not a few have considered the whole matter of the shell-fish dye a sort of myth ; not that there was no truth in the shell-fish producing dye — that cannot be gainsaid — but that the many wonderful stories told about it in ancient times were used as a blind to cover and conceal the knowledge of cochineal and a tin mordant, which, it is maintained, the Tyrians possessed. Bruce in his Travels maintains this opinion, and says that, "if the whole City of Tyre had applied themselves to nothing but fishing, they could not have dyed twenty yards of cloth in a year ; " and certainly, when we consider the mode of fishing which Pliny mentions, by mussels in a net, and the small intensity of the colour, which required three pounds of liquor to one pound of wool, we should say they could not have a large trade. Since, according to our 3nodern researches into this dye, one mollusc, the common Purpura lapillus produces only about one drop of the liquor, then it would take 10,000 fish to dye one pound of wool ; so that only 3s. for this is out of the question, and even £32 is not extravagant. We think that the error lies in confounding all purple colour with the Tyrian or shell- fish dye, which seems to have been rare and costly at all times, and necessarily so. (Napier : Manufacturing Arts in Ancient Times) Modern research has revived the process of producing purple from shell-fish dyes, after the art had been lost for several centuries ; but to no purpose, for cheaper and finer methods had by that time been dis- covered. Shell-fish giving either the same or similar secretions have been found in the West Indies, on the coast of Spain, and according to one authority — Mr. Cole, of Bristol, who devoted much time and energy to the question— even on the shores of Somersetshire and South Wales. This discovery was made in 1686, and was given to the world through a paper in the Philosophical Transactions. Purples are now produced from coal-tar, which probably exceed both in beauty and durability the famous Tyrian dye.* PURREL. A list ordained by an Act of the 35th year of Queen Elizabeth to be made at the ends of kerseys, to prevent deceit iu diminishing their length. QXJILL, quilling. Ruffles, or plaits folded or quilled, probably from the folds being about the size and shape of a goose-quill, fit to admit a quill, or plaited in small successive ridges like quills. * Purple has not always been used for the bluish red or reddish blue with '. bicfa wo aMOeiate the term, but frequently included distinct crimsons. QUI (271 ) It AS QUILT. See Counterpane. QUOIF, Coif. A plain close-fitting head-dress worn at one time by both sexes. RAIMENT. That in which one is arrayed ; a contraction of arrayment. RANTERS. A stuff of combing wool of this denomination was made in this country early in the last century. RASDUMORE. A silk of the last century. See an advertisement quoted under Armozeen. This is the only instance in which the name has been found. RASH. A species of inferior silk or silk and stuff manufacture ; called in French, according to Howell, bur ail. Skinner,* deriving it from sericum rasum (after Minshew), makes it into sattin ; but as several authorities prove it to have been a cheap article that cannot be right. Howell's burail is defined in a French dictionary as a species of ratine ; but bural, which follows, is nearer our mark : " Le bural est une sorte d'etoffe grossiere dont les religieux Mandicans font leurs habits." Manuel Lexiaue. Probably a kind of crape. Nares. Webster and Ash both define rash as " sattin. ' ,irth, and had send ■ regular apprenticeship to the profession." 11 and 15 Hen. VIII. BUS ( 281 ) RUS had hitherto done, providing always that the same should be wrought and employed in making of hats within the said city. (33 Hen. VIII., and confirmed 1 Edward VI., a.d. 1547.) Strutt. In the first year of Philip and Mary (a.d. 1554) it was represented to the Parliament that of late years Russells, called russel satins and satin reverses, had been made abroad from the wools in the county of Norfolk, and being brought into this kingdom were purchased and worn, to the great detriment of the wool manufacturers at Norwich, which induced several of the opulent inhabitants of that city, to the number of twenty-one, to encourage certain of the foreign workmen to come to .Norwich, where they were to set to work, and had instructed others ; so that at the time the petition was presented there were made in the same city better russel satins and satin reverses, and also fustains, in imitation of the fustians of Naples, than had been received from abroad, and the makers were enabled to sell them at much lower rates ; they therefore petitioned for some "good and politic laws" to be sanctioned by Parliament for the encouragement and continuance of the making of such articles, and to prevent their being "badly and deceitfully manufactured, to the detriment of the public." The petition was granted, and these articles were afterwards called by the names of Norwich satins and Norwich fustains. Ruffhead. In 1592 it appears in a return of that date : " Russells, broad, poize 7 lbs., sold for £3. None entered in customs of long time. " Russells, narrow, poize 5 lbs., sold for £1 10s. None entered in customs of long time.'.' And occasionally in inventories of that period : " 1545. a yearde and a quarter of red russell, 2s. 6A. 1577. ij yeards of reed russells, 2s. 8d. v yds. dim. brode russelles, 12s. lOd." In the Booh oj Rates they are styled " Russell worsteds or broad worsteds," and valued at £2 the piece. No mention occurs of the staff for a long time after this, and it appears either to have dropped out of use or to have been merged in the general class of worsteds. But some time towards the latter part of the 18th century it was revived, and is then described as a kind of twilled lasting, resembling calimancoes, but stouter. The glazed finish which presumably first gave them the title of satins was in some instances followed, and the stuff was manufactured in a wide range of qualities ; but in all was uniformly 27 inches in width, and 28 yards in length. It was used principally for the uppers of boots and shoes, for ladies' petticoats and men's waistcoats. Later the fabric was figured and worn as a dress material, but is now made as a corded stuff, and known as Russell cord. RUSSET. As with other colours applied to fabrics, it is very doubtful whether this name is not often used to signify a distinct stuff, and to be independent of the colour of which it was dyed. Thus, in an inventory of 1571, we have entries of "read russett " and "gray russett," and the sumptuary law of 37 Edward III. confines the wear of all labourers and lower classes of the people not possessed of goods JtTJS ( 282 ) BUS and chattels to the amount of 40s. to blankets anf the thread used herein, which is chiefly prepared and spun in Flanders, about Turcoing, &c, and called Fil de Sayette. E. Chambers : Cyclopcedia, 1741. "Fine stuffs, serges, sagathees, calamancoes." Haynes : Great Britain's Glory, 1715. " I have given myself some time to find out how distinguishing the frays in a lot of muslins, or drawing up a regiment of thread-laces, or making a panegyrick on pieces of Sagathy or Scotch-plod, should entitle a man to a laced hat or sword, a wig tied up with ribands, or an embroidered coat." Tatler, No. 270. SALARY. Literally and originally, money for salt ; a recompense for services ; wages. (Fr. salaire, It. salario, L. solarium, money given to Roman soldiers for salt — sal, salt. ) i SAMITE. (Du., Ger. sammet ; Fr. samy, samis ; Low L. samitum, exametum. ) A costly silk, frequently mentioned by old writers under the various titles of samittum, somitium, seyamitum, samilis, xamitum, or exametum. The name denoted the substance of the fabric. Silks in mediaeval times had various names, distinguishing either their quality or their pattern, or whence they came. Holosericum was stuff made entirely of silk ; subsericum partly so. Examitum, or as our old English documents so often call it, "samit," tells (from the Greek hex, for six) the number of threads on the warp of the texture. To say, there- fore, that any robe was of "samit" meant that it was six-threaded and costly and splendid. When Sir Launcelot came to King Arthur, the old poet writes : " Lancelot and the queene were clede, In robes of a rich weede, Of samit white, with silver shredde." SAM ( 286 ) SAB The strong modern silks, with the thick thread "organzine," and a slightly thinner thread, "tram " for the warp, may be regarded as representing the old samits. (The Industrial Arts.) According to Strutt, samite was " a very rich and estimable stuff." Sometimes it was composed entirely of silk, but frequently it was interwoven with threads of gold and silver, and in general it appears to have been embroidered or otherwise embellished with gold in a very costly manner. This material wai chiefly dedicated to sacred uses, and constituted many of the rich official habits of the clergy. It was not, however, confined to the Church ; the Norman monarch, the nobility, and the ladies of high rank at this period made use of it upon particular occasions, when more than ordinary display of pomp was required. Mirth, as we find him described in the Romance of the Rose, was clothed in " a vest of samit, adorned with figures of birds, and embellished with beaten gold; " his chaplet was also made of " samit, ornamented with roses." Gladness, characterized in the same poem, is said to have been habited in a vest of samite covered with gold. The general colour of this stuff was red ; but an ancient French historian speaks of robes of black samir- which belonged to Louis ; and in the Romance of Lancelot de Lac we read of a vest and mantle of white samit. The author of the Chronicle of St. Denis assures us that the Oriflanime, or sacred standard of the kings of France, was made of red samit, ornamented with tufts of green silk. Cotgrave defines samit as " a silken or half -silken stuff, which hath a gloss like satin, and is narrower, but lasteth better than it, " and it is believed that before the term became obsolete it was used to signify satins generally. " In silken samite she was light arayd, And her fayre locks were woven up in gold." Spensek : Faerie Queene. SAMMERON. A linen usually associated in old documents with harden, but apparently of a finer quality ; thus, in the will of Johan Wiclif, 1562, we find "x pare harden shetts," 20s. ; " iiij pare sameron sheets," 20s. These instances support the opinion of Halliwell, who describes it as "a cloth between flaxen and hempen, finer than one and coarser than the other." (Dictionary of Archaisms, &c.) SAMPLE. An ensample or specimen. SARCENET, Sarsnet. A stuff of silk that has apparently changed but little from the time of its introduction into this country in the 13th century until now. It derives its name from having first been made by Saracens, probably in Spain. Du Cange renders it Pannus saracenici operis, and Skinner sericum saracenicum. It was not extensively used until the 15th century, when, owing probably to some improvement in the manufacture, it was eagerly bought, and displaced the older kindred fabric, cendal. At this time it is shown in the Wardrobe Accounts of Edward IV., at from 3s. to 4s. the yard. " Grene and white sarsynett " at 3s. 6d., M greene sarsinets " at 3s. 2d., "tawny sarcinet " at 3s. 2d., and " sarsinetts chaungeable and other diverse colours " at 48. the yard. In the 16th century it is priced at 5a., and in the 17th at 78. 6d. the ell. As a matter of course, it was used in sumptuary laws to mark social distinctions. By statute 17 Edward IV., 1477, the wives and unmarried daughters of persons having possessions of the SAR ( 287 ) SAS yearly value of £20 and upwards were permitted "to use and were in their colers, ventes and slefes of their gownes and bukes, sateyn, chamelet, sarcenet or tarijeron." The wives and unmarried daughters of persons whose possessions yielded 40s. and upwards per annum, might also use sarcenets and tarterons in like manner ; and to give but one other of many instances in point, an Act of the 24th year of Henry VIII. decreed that no man under the degree of a baron's son or knight, or of 150 markes by the year over all charges, and "such other men as may dispende yerely in landes or revenewes £40 over a I charges, should were in their gownes or any other their vttermost apparell any chamblet or sylke, nor in any other part of their apparell any sylke other than saten damaske, taffata, or sarsnet in their doubletts, and sercenent, chamblet or taffata in linyng of their gownes, and the same or velvet in their sleveles cotes, jacketts, jerkins, corses, capps, purses or partlettes ; and that no man other than such gentylmen as may dispend yerely in landes or revenewes £20 over all charges were any silke except saten, taffata, sarcenet or damaske in his doublet or coyse, and chamblet in his sleveles jackettes, and a lace of silk for his bonet or pointes, laces, girdles, or garters." " And surely she (a woman in Cos, named Pamphila) is not to be defrauded of her due honour and praise, for the invention of that fine silke, Tiffanie, Sarcenet, and cypress, which instead of apparell to cover and hide, shew women naked through them." Holland (1551-1636) : Plinie. " Thou tender heir apparent to a church-all, Thou sleight prince of single sarcenet." Beaumont and Fletcher : FMlaster ; or, Love Lies a-Bleeding, 1620. " Why art thou then exasperate, thou idle, immaterial skein of sley'd silk,, thou green sarcenet flap for a sore eye, thou tassel of a prodigal's purse ? " Troilus and Cressida. SARCIATUS, Sarcilus, Sarzil. A coarse woollen cloth, appropriated principally to the habits of the lowest classes, and to such of those espe- cially who subsisted on charity. Strutt : Dress and Habits. SASH. Dr. Johnson admitted his ignorance of the origin of this word, and hazarded a conjecture that it was derived from scache, of scavior, to know, a sash worn being a mark of distinction, and a sash window being made particularly for the sake of seeing and being seen." The guess was an unfortunate one. Richard- son says of the word : " Skinner writes it Shash, and calls it a tiara, a Turkish cap. It is also so written (as a known English word) by Sir Thomas Herbert, and is supposed by Mr. Thompson to have been adopted during the Crusades; but when was this name given to the girdle worn by the Christian, in imitation, probably, of the Jewish priest ? Skinner gives an Italian word, sessa, a kind of shaggy cloth, with the folds of which the Turks adorn their caps. There is really no doubt that the sash and its name were both borrowed from the turbans of Orientals, only being disposed about the waist instead of the head, shash in Arabic signifying a band, and the It. sessa denoting, not a cloth used to ornament Turkish caps, but turbans themselves. It was long written shash. Sir Thomas Herbert says of the Indian Mahometans, ''Their habit is a quilted coat of calico, tyed SAT ( 288 ) SAT under the left arm, a small shash, small in comparison of that worn by Turk and Persian, upon their heads, &c.," and of the people of Java, " About their heads they sometimes wreath a valuable shash." Echard, in a work of 1696, says, "Shashes and broad hats came into fashion." Sashes or bands folded of tied about the waist were worn in this country a ■? early as the 14th century, although they were not known by that name before the 16th century, when Hall mentions "mantles of crimsyn satin, worn baudericke, or sash-wise, so that the other gar- ments might make a more splendid appearance, " indicating the manner in which they are now worn by military men. To this class they were principally confined in the 17th century, when they were by them much worn, as they were by naval officers at the beginning of the last century. " So much for the silk in Judea, called Sliesh in Hebrew, whence haply that finen linen or silk is called Shashes, worn at this day about the heads of Eastern people." Fuller : A Pisgali Sight of Palestine, 1650. " Shops breathe perfumes, through sashes, ribbons, glow, The mutual arms of ladies and the beau," Gay : Trivia, 1715. SATIN. Russ., Ger. atlass, It. drapo de setan, Du., Da., Pol. atlas, Da., Sw. atlaslc, Fr., G-er. satin, It. raso, Sp. raso liso, ~Port., setim, seda. The word is, according to some, of Chinese origin, others give id as distinctively French. Diez and Menage further trace it to the Latin seta, a bristle or hair, others to the Hebrew sadin, and yet others to the old French sadin, handsome, genteel.* There has been printed an account of a romantic discovery of the manner of making satin, which is so entirely incorrect as to be all romance, without even a foundation of fact : " The word ' satin,' which in the original was applied to all silk stuffs in general, has since the last century been used to designate only tissues which present a lustered surface. The discovery of this particular brilliant stuff was accidental. Octavio Mai, a silk weaver, finding business very dull, and not knowing what to invent to give a new impulse to the trade, was one day pacing to and fro before his loom. Every time he passed the machine, with no definite object in view, he pulled little threads from the warp and put them to his mouth, which soon after he spat out. Later on he found the little ball of silk on the floor of his workshop, and was attracted by the brilliant appear- ance of the threads. He repeated the experiment, and by using certain mucilaginous preparations succeeded in giving satin to the world." All silk stuffs were not originally koown as satins. Satin does not depend for its glossiness on any previous preparation of the warp, but on its peculiar manner of weaving, and afterwards upon a dressing given by rolling the stuff on heated cylinders. The circumstance above related is applicable to Taffeta (which see). Dr. Ure gives a very clear account of the somewhat complicated process by which satins are produced. " It is woven upon a loom with at least five-leaved healds or heddles, and as many corresponding treddles. These are so mounted as to rise and fall four at a time, raising and depressing alternately four yarns of * Satin is setinus, the adjective from seta. This last word is nothing more than the Latin seta, a bristle or strong hair. Originally seta serica seems to have been the term employed for silk. The German for satin, atlas, is taken from the Arabic and Persian. Like the Italian raso, it denotes the smooth surface, and is exactly the reverse of vellato. SAT ( 289 ) SAT of the warp, across the whole of which the weft is thrown by the shuttle, so as produce a uniform smooth texture, instead of the chequered work resulting from intermediate decussations, as in common webs. Satins are woven with the glossy or right side undermost, because the four- fifths of the warp, which are always left there during the action of the healds, serve to support the shuttle in its race. Were they woven in the reverse way, the scanty fifth part of the warp threads could either not support or would be too much worn by the shuttle. " Satins were first imported from .China into Europe. They were known in this country as early as the 13th century. Chaucer, in his Man of Lawe's Tale, speaks of it : " In Surrie whilom dwelt a compagnie Of chapman rich, and thereto sad and trewe, That wide were senten hir spicerie, Clothes of gold and satins rich of hewe." For a long period they were very little used, probably on account of their rarity, and it was not until the 15th century that they became common. Strutt says that the high price they bore must necessarily have precluded them from general use, and instances a payment of eighteen florins for an ecclesiastical habit of Persian satin. The general colour of these early satins was red, so that the mention of black satin by one writer is recorded as a notable fact. In the Wardrobe Accounts of Edward IV., 1481, there are shown black satin afc 2s., green at 8s., and whit6 at 10s. the yard, and in the Privy Purse Expenses of Eliza- beth of York "blake " and " tawny " are both shown at 2s. the yard. Bruges satin appears in an inventory of 1575, at Is. 6d. the yard, and again in another of 1578 : " ij yards a of satton in bridgis, 3s. 10d," this being an imitation satin with thread weft. Proof of the increased production of satin in the 15th century is afforded by its employment being restricted to certain classes by sumptuary laws. By one of these (3 and 4 Edw. IV.) the use of damask and satin was confined to esquires and yeomen of the king's household ; to sergeants, esquires, and gentlemen having possessions of the yearly value of £40, and to persons of higher rank. These provisions were re-enforced by a subsequent Act of the same reign (22 Edw. IV.), and from this point onwards satin is very generally included in similar enact- ments, a late instance of which will be found under Sarcenet. Henry VIII. was very profuse in his use of this material in costume, doublets of purple, crimson, and yellow satin appearing in inventories of his apparel ; but after that time satin became so common as not to need especial mention. The manufacture of satin in this country is due to the refugees of 1685. It soon reached great perfection, so that Spitalfields acquired a reputation for fine satins which was never afterwards lost. Since the perfection of the Jacquard machine all manner of varying patterns in figured or striped satins have been produced by its aid, and its manu- facture generally has reached a point little short of perfection. " Upon her body she wore a doublet of sky-colour satin, covered with plates of gold, and as it were nailed with precious stones, that in it she might seem armed." Sidney. SAT ( 290 ) SAY " The ladies dress' din rich symars were 'seen, Of Florence satin, flower'd with white and green. And for a shade hetwixt the bloomy gridelin." Dryden. " Her petticoat transform' d apace, Became black satin flounc'd with lace." Swift. SATINET. Satinade, "a very slight, thin sort of sattin, chiefly used by the ladies for summer night-gowns, &c., and ordinarily striped." (E. Chambers : Cyclopcedia.) The name lias been applied to and is still used for a woollen material. SAXONY. The name of a glossy woollen fabric once very popular, also still applied to a description of flannel. The name was given in both cases from the stuffs being presumably made from Saxony wool, which owes its celebrity to the introduction of Merino sheep into that country in the year 1765. It was, however, only through the fore- sight of the reigning prince that the native sheep became thus improved, and the Saxon farmers had to be benefited in spite of themselves . They refused to have anything to do with Spanish sheep, and the Elector had to make the purchase of Merinos by his tenants a condition of tenancy. The increased value of the crossed fleeces became soon so obvious that further compulsion was unnecessary. SAY. A sort of thin woollen stuff or serge. Bailey. Fr. saye ; It. saia. Menage and Skinner derive from the Lat. sagum, a military cloak, because (says Skinner) the kind of stuff called say was very suit- able for making such cloaks. The Fr. saye, It. sdio, Sp. sayo, is a sagum or cassock. Richardson. (Fr. sole.) A thin silk. In commerce a kind of serge used for linings, shirts, aprons, &c. Webster. A species of silk, or rather satin. Nares. Say is well known to have been a woollen cloth, and one of the earliest productions of the woollen looms in this kingdom. There is, however, some reason to believe that it may have been originally made of silk, and perhaps afterwards imitated in wool. Thus we read in Stow that in 1377 the London cits made a show for the disport of Richard, son of the Black Prince, in which appeared ' ' forty-eight in the likeness and habit of esquires, two and two together, clothed in red coats and gowns of say or sandal with comely visors, and after them forty-eight knights in the same livery of colour or stuff." And in the MS. of 1592 in the Lansdown collection, which has been before quoted, we find entries of " Sayes, called silk sayes. poize 3 lbs. and dim (half), rated at . £1 10 Sayes, broad, poize 14 lbs., rated at 10 0" plainly showing that at one time there were two dissimilar fabrics of the same name. But for all that, says, as we generally find them mentioned in history, refer to a fine milled cloth, and a far more probable root of the word is to be found in the Dutch saai, wool or woollen cloth. This is the more probable in that there is little or no doubt that the Netherlanders first manufactured say, and that from them we derived our knowledge of it. Guicciardini states that the stuff so originated, and Pensionary De Witt, in his Interest of Holland, 1GG9, says that "The compulsive laws of the Nethcrlaud Halls first drove the cloth-weaving from the cities into our villages, and thence SAY ( 291 ) SAY into England, and that, by the cruelty of the Duke D'Alva the say- weaving went also after it ; " and Camden (Brittania, 1610) says of Norwich, " And verily much beholden it is unto the Netherlanders that being weary of the Duke de Alva and his cruelty, and hating the bloudy Inquisition, repaired hither in great numbers, and first brought in the making of saies, baies, and other stuffs now much in use." Not only Norfolk but the neighbouring counties shared in this incur- sion of wealth. Sudbury in Suffolk became particularly famous for its says, and of Braintree in Essex we read that : " This Town is famous for the Woollen Manufacture, called Bays and Sayf, of which the Clothiers there used to make great Quantities, and transport, them to Portugal and Spain, by which the Poor were employ'd and the Town greatly enriched. This Trade was settled here first by certain Flemings, driven out of the Netherlands by the Duke DAlva's Cruelty, and taking up their Resi- dence in some Inns grown out of use there. Braintree, nd the next Town Hocking, which joins to it, as if they were both one, used to send Weekly to London five or six Waggons loaden with them." "oo v It is indeed claimed by some that the manufacture was established in Ireland long previous to this period. Macpherson {Annals of Commerce) speaking of the latter part of the 14th century says, " At this time there were some considerable manufactures in Ireland. The stuffs called sayes made in that country were in such request that they were imitated by the manufacturers of Catalonia, who were in the practice of making the finest woollen goods of every kind ; they were also esteemed in Italy, and were worn by the ladies of Florence, a city abounding with the richest manufactures, and in which the luxury of dress was carried to the greatest height." It had been in use in this country as early as the 11th century, as the reader may find by referring to the article on Hose, and was later employed for purposes of upholstery. In 1433 Thomas Scargill left "a bed of red saye and a tapet of the same material," and an inventory of the time of Henry VIII. of the effects of Sir John Foskewe, left among his hall-furniture, ' ' A hanging of green saye, bordered with darning." The manufacture flourished exceedingly, so much so that it was found necessary to uphold it by legal provisions ensuring excellence. Under date of 1638 Anderson says, " In pursuance of two Acts of Parliament, of the 39th and 43rd of Queen Elizabeth, for the true making of cloth directing all kinds of woollen cloth brought for sale to London to be first carried to Blackwell Hall*, the common cloth market for the said city, to be then searched and sealed ; and of King James's proclamation, in his 11th year, directing that all sorts of vendible cloths, bayes, felts, says, stuffs, as well old as new draperies, made in England and Wales, should be brought to the said Blackwell Hall, for the like purpose. King Charles published a proclamation to the same effect, as also to prevent those who, to elude the said laws, make contracts for those woollen cloths in the country, and bring them afterwards to London to inns, warehouses, &c, to be there sold ; whereby, says the king, much deceit and damage redoundeth to our subjects, and discredit to our clotha in foreign parts, and also the poor children of Christ's Hospital, in London, are defrauded of the duties of hallage there, appointed for their * Established in 1397 as a storehouse and market for cloths. u 2 SCA ( 292 ) SCI relief." About this time we find says retailed at from 2s. 8d. to 5s. 6d. the yard, and from the Booh of Rates can gather other knowledge of their value and varieties : " Sayes, Double Sayes, or Flanders serges, the piece, con- taining 15 yards .. .. .. .. .. ..£9 00 Double Say or Serge, the yard ..090 Mil' d Says, the piece .. ..600 Hounscot* Say, the piece, containing 21 yards . . . . 6 0" After this period says became merged in the common denomination of cloth, until the name was revived and applied to a worsted material, which in 1800 was described as "a stout shalloon, twilled the same and woven with a four heald twill, but the warp and weft for says were heavier to make a stouter stuff, and they were usually fabricated from wool of a superior quality, and made 42 inches wide, and 42 yards long." " This is making of that fine say, whereof silke cloth is made, which men also are not ashamed to put on and use, because in summer time they would goe light and thin." Hollar : Plinie. 11 His garment neither was of silk nor say," Spenser: Faerie Queene (1590). " Their minds are made of say, Their love is like silks changeable." Song on Women: Wit's Interpreter (1671). " Whether the woollen manufacture of England is not divided into several parts or branches, appropriated to particular places, where they are only or principally manufactured ; fine cloths in Somersetshire, coarse in Yorkshire, long ells at Exeter, saies at Sudbury, crapes at Norwich, linseys at Kendal, blankets at "Witney, and so forth ?" Bishop Berkeley : Querist. SCARF. First mentioned as an article of dress in the time of Eliza- beth : "Then must they have their silk scarfs cast about their faces, and fluttering in the wind, with great lapels at every end, either of gold or silver or silk, which they say they wear to keep them from sun- burning." Stubbes: Anatomie of Abuses. As with gloves, garters, and ribbons, scarfs have been worn as favours. 11 O. Lady, your scarf's fallen down. L. 'Tis but your luck, sir, And does presage the mistress must fall shortly ; You may wear it an you please." Beaumont and Fletcher. SCISSORS, Scissars. A small pair of sheers or blades moveable on a pivot, intercepting the thing to be cut. Johnson. This word signi- fied in the original Latin, not the cutting instrument, but the person who used it. (L. scissor, one who divides, from scindo, to cut.) In the same manner, tailors were in early times known and described as cissors, the Italian ctsoure still signifying a cutter or tailor. " And mo berdes in two hours Without rasour or sisours Ymade, than graines bo of sandes." CnAUCRn : House of Fame. * Probably Houdscot in Flanders. SCTJ ( 293 ) SEA " I saw a smith stand with his hammer thus, The whilst his iron did on the anvil cool, With open mouth swallowing a tailor's news ; Who, with his shears and measure in his hand, Standing on slippers (which his nimble haste Had falsely thrust upon contrary feet), Told of many a thousand warlike French, That were embatteled and rank'd in Kent." Shakespeake : King John. " Behold this equipage, by Mathers wrought, With fifty guineas (a great pen' worth) bought. See, on the tooth-pick, Mars and Cupid strive : And both the struggling figures seem alive. Upon the bottom shines the queen's bright face A myrtle foliage round the thimble-case, Jove, Jove himself, does on the scissors shine ; The metal, and the workmanship divine." Pope: TJie Basset Table. SCUTCHING (French teillage), in the manufacture of flax, consists, whether performed by hand or by machinery, of two processes ; first, the bruising of the stems, and secondly, the beating away of the woody parts of the fibre. SEAL (fur). Fr. veaumarin, It. vitello marina, Sp±foca, Du. zeehond, Da. scelhund, Sw. sjalhund, L. phoca. This valuable fur is sought annually on the shores of Spitzbergen and in the Greenland Seas by fleets of ships, to which Dundee furnishes the only squadron from our shores. These amphibious animals are sought so eagerly, and, according to some accounts, killed with so little discrimination (in spite of contrary provisions), that there is some danger of the species becoming extinct. The oil yielded from the carcasses is very highly prized, but the principal object of the expedition, is of course, to procure the more valuable skins. So precarious and uncertain is success that a ship which one year may obtain 20,000 seals, may not in the following season procure as many scores. The varieties valuable as furs are the Bladder-nose seal and the Saddle-back-seal. Another kind, the common seal, is some- times met with on the shores of Scotland and other parts of Europe. The skin, when tanned, is employed in the making of shoes, and when dressed with the hair on serves for the covering of trunks, &c. " The greater portion of the skins imported are tanned and enamelled with black varnish for ladies' shoes ; other descriptions are well adapted for fur. Before they can be used as a fur, it is necessary to remove the very coarse hairs which cover a beautifully fine and ailky fur. By shaving the felt to half its natural substance, the roots of the coarse hairs are cut through, and they easily fall out ; but the same effect is produced by the natural process of fermentation, which ensues when the skins are properly prepared and allowed to remain together. The fur is rarely used in its natural state, but is dyed a deep Vandyke brown, when it has the appearance of the richest velvet." Ure : Dictionary. " To the Esquimaux the seal is of as much importance as bread to a Euro- pean. Its flesh forms their most usual food ; the fat is partly dressed for eating, and partly consumed in their lamps : the liver, when fried, is esteemed, SEA ( 294 ) SEN even among sailors, as an agreeable dish. The skin, -which the Esquimaux dress by processes peculiar to themselves, is made waterproof. With the bair off, it is used as coverings, instead of planks, for their boats, and as outer gar- ments for themselves ; shielded with which they can invert themselves and canoes in the water without getting their bodies wet. It serves also for coverings for their tents, and for various other purposes. The jackets and trousers made of seal-skin by the Esquimaux are in great request among the whale fishers for preserving them from oil and wet." — Scoresby : Arctic Regions. SEAM. Tliat which is sewed; the line formed by the sewing together of two pieces ; a line of union, a vein of metal, ore, coal, &c. (A.-S. seam, from seawian, to sew ; Ice. saumr, Ger. saum, a seam.) Donald. SEAMSTKESS, Sempster. A woman who sews. An occupation in which the employment of women is comparatively modern. Tailors at one time worked in any material, and were of sufficient importance to form distinct and influential gilds. Women had then no public employment, and although they, especially among the higher ranks, were exceedingly skilful with the needle, it was to tailors that the making up of garments was entrusted. "The designation of mentelers was given to the craftsmen of Niirnberg. In Breslau the tailors for women's and men's clothes formed two distinct classes, as they do in Germany at the present day." Yeats : Technical History of Commerce 11 S. A sempster speak with me, sayst thou ? N. Yes, sir, she's there viva voce." Mtddletox : Roaring Girl. " The sempster sat still as I passed by, And dropt her needle." Bex Jostson : Time Vindicated. SELL. To give or deliver in exchange for an equivalent. (A.-S. sellan, to give, Old Dutch, sellan, Ice. sella, Gothic, seljan, to deliver.) DOXALP. SELVAGE, Selvedge. (Du. selfende.) According to Skinner, from salvage, because it strengthened and preserved garments ; but obviously self-edge, that which makes an edge of itself without hemming. Fairholt says it was once used for the fold of a searr. " The over nape schall dowbulle be layde, To the utter edge the selvage brade ; The over selvage, he shall replye As towel but were fayrest in bye." Tlie Bole of Curtasye (14th cent.) SEMPITERNUM. A twilled woollen stuff, resembling serge, in all probability deriving its name, like lastings or perpetuanas, from its durable qualities. It was an ordinary English fabric, made paiticularly in and about Colchester and Exeter. {Dictionnaire du Commerce.) In Lord William Howard's Household Books is an entry of " 7 yeardes and thre quarters of sempiternum for Mr. Charles Howarde's children," 23s. 4d. SENDAL. (See Cendal.) SER ( 295 ) ERS SERGE. (Ger. sarsche, Du. sargie, Da. sars, sarge, sirts, Sw. ears, Fr. sarge, serge, It. sargia, Sp. sarga, Port, sarja, Rus. ssarsha, Pol. szareza.) A twilled worsted stuff, which, according to some writers, being at one time made from silk, and so through the L. sericum, silk, derived its name. Skinner {Etymologicon Linguae Anglicanoe) shows the word as coming from the Teutonic serge, Du. sargia, a covering. A third root for the word is found by others in the Sp. zerga, a blanket, coarse frieze. No serges of silk can be found mentioned until recent times, when serge du soy was in the last century sold as a dress material, and more recently as a lining. Thus Perkins, in his Treatise on Haberdashery, describes it as "a stout twilled silk, and, though stout, the twill in it is curiously fine ; it is usually sold for lining the skirts, cuffs, and padded parts of coats ; is to be had in black, and any cloth colour, and of various lengths." Serges were known and used as early as the 12th century. Strutt says of them, "An ancient author, mentioned by Du Cange, proves, I conceive beyond a doubt, that the same workmen who made the tyretaine manufactured the sarge ; the latter, indeed, was chiefly used for curtains and hangings, and other domestic uses, which may lead us to conclude that it was of a coarser quality than the former. We read, however, of painted sarges, which perhaps should be rendered sarges adorned with needlework, after the manner of tapestry. Thin cloth was not confined to one colour ; red and black are specified in the margin ; the latter^ we find was manu- factured at Caen, in Normandy." The use of serges for hangings was common for several centuries. Chaucer thus mentions it : " By ordinance throughout the city large, Hanging with cloth of gold and not of sarge." In 1382 there were exported from Bristol, for the use of the Pope, "two great pieces of red serge for adorning a hall, worked with the arms of the Pope, the king, and the Church ; " and in 1660 Pepys records that "this morning my dining-room was furnished with greene serge hanging and gilt leather, which is very handsome." It is not until the 17th century that we meet with many notices of serge. In 1592 there appears scant mention of it as being made in two qualities — 11 Serge, broad, poize 11 lbs., rated at . . . . ..£300 Serge, narrow, poize 6 lbs., rated at 1 10 " But it appears only to have come into general wear later on, and even then, if we may judge from the titles under which it is shown, to have been commonly imported. Thus, in the Booh of Rates, we have " Serge of Athens, the yard £0 2 Serge of Florence, the yard 10 0" And in an inventory of the wardrobe of Charles I., 1679, " serge of Smyrna " is priced at 8s. 9d. the yard. As will be seen by referring to Say, serge was then a better quality of that stuff. A Scottish writer of 1683 (quoted in Smith's Memoirs of Wool) affords valuable inferences as to the quality and price of serges at that date. " One pound of our own wool (not worth 8s. Scots the troy pound) [that is, 8d. sterling] shall yield two elns of serge, or thereabouts, which, when dyed SHA. ( 296 ) SHA and dressed in cloth colours, is sold here in retail with profit for 24s. the eln, and within these eight years were wholly imported from England, and cost there, albeit not finer than this, always 2s. 2d. and 2s. 4d. sterling the yard." Modern serges, which vary little from those made two centuries ago, are too well known to need description. The manufacture, in which at one time London had the pre-eminence, is now principally carried on in Yorkshire. " Take the same wool, for instance ; one man felts it into a hat, another weaves it into cloth, another weaves it into kersey or serge, another weaves it into arras ; and possibly these variously subdiversified according to the phan- tasy of the artificer." Hale: Origin of Mankind. SHAG (from the A.-S. sceacga, rough, shaggy, hairy, the confused intermingling of boughs, branches, or bushes, or flames like hair), literally denotes a rough hairy stuff. It is described as "a species of shaggy cloth, with a velvet nap on one side, composed regularly of a woof of a single thread and a double warp : the one, wool of two threads twisted, the other of goat's or camel's hair." It has been made gene- rally of worsted, but at times wholly of hair or silk. "Shaggs" of scarlet, blue, black, and buff were priced at 13s. 6d. the yard in 1676 (Harl. MS., 6271), and Pepys, once being determined "henceforward to go like myself," bought "a new shag gown, trimmed with gold buttons and twist, with a new hat, and silk tops for my legs, and many other things." The stuff continued in wear until the following century. A youth who was missing in 1703 is described in an advertisement as having worn " red shag breeches, striped with black stripes ; " and in 1712, among some articles of apparel lost by a lady, appears " a petticoat of rich showy flowered satin, red and white, all in great flowers or leaves, and scarlet flowers, with black specks brocaded in, raised high, like velvet or shag. " At its first introduction it appears to have been of coarse quality, and principally used for linings ; for in Beaumont and Fletcher's Woman Hater, 1607, it is said, " Your offers must be full of bounty : velvets to furnish a gown, silks for petticoats and fore parts, shag for lining. " SHALLOON. "A slight woollen stuff" (Swift), said to be so called from having been originally manufactured at Chalons, in France. (Sp. challon, Fr. ras de Chalons), first known as rash (see Rash), and, according to Guicciardini, made in large quantities in the 16th century at Florence. * Anderson, showing the decay of French trade between 1683 and 1733, estimates the value of our imports of shalloons and tammies from Picardy and Champagne in the former year at £150,000 per annum, but adds that those stuffs are '* now better made at home." * Professor Archer, in his Wool and its Application (British Manufacturing Industries), states that through Chaucer there is indication that shalloon " ranks amongst the most ancient manufactures of wool," finding proof for this assertion in this passage : " A bedde With shetesand with chalonnes faire y-spredde ;" but chalonnes here denoted painted coverlets, for the manufacture of which Chalons was at one time famous. (See Counterpane.) SHA ( 297 ) SHE Between these dates the manufacture most probably commenced in this country, soon finding firm footing. De Foe, in his Tour through Great Britain, says that the little town of Newbury, in Berkshire, once famous as the residence of Jack Winchcomb ("the greatest clothier that ever was in England") is now "generally employed in making shalloon, which, though it is generally used only for the lining of men's clothes, yet it is increased to a manufacture by itself, and is more con- siderable than any single manufacture of stuffs in the nation." Watson's History of Halifax, 1775, says, too, that "the shalloon trade was introduced here about the beginning of the present century, and what are called figured stuffs or drawboys within the compass of a few years." Booth's Anylytical English Dictionary gives a full description of shalloons as they were in 1835: "A worsted article, which, like Calamanco, may be either hotpressed or unglazed, but it differs from the latter, particularly in the manner of weaving, being twilled equally on both sides, or what is termed double-twilled. A very fine shalloon, always unglazed, has the Spanish name of Cubica. It is chiefly exported to Catholic countries to be made into gowns for the ecclesiastics, and is therefore dyed black, blue, Carmelite brown, &c. , according to the several orders of Friars. A stouter sort of Cubicas are sometimes called Says, but these are very different from the Say formerly mentioned. The manufacture of shalloons in this country was formerly much more extensive than at present." The stuff is now, according to a writer in Great Industries of Great Britain, woven from Lincolnshire and Yorkshire long-stapled wool of the finest qualities, and twilled on both sides, mostly dyed scarlet and Turkey red, and mainly exported to the East of Turkey and Asia. " In blue shalloon shall Hannibal be clad, And Scipio trail in Irish purple plaid." Swift. ♦ SHAWL. (Ger. schalen, Fr. chals, chales, It. shavali, Sp. schavalos, Persian and Hindostanee, shal. ) An article of apparel made after the manner of a large handkerchief, the manufacture of which is believed to have originated in the valley of Cashmere, a district still pre-eminent in the production of these goods. " The manufacture of shawls was first begun in this country at Norwich by Mr. Parrow and Alderman Watson, in 1784. They copied the Indian style, but the process was very slow, and the result consequently costly. Mr. John Harvey, of Norwich, followed up the enterprise with Piedmont silk warp and fine worsted shoot ; but the designs were darned by hand. It was not until 1805 that a shawl was produced entirely by the loom at Norwich. In Paisley and Edinburgh the manufacture was introduced about the same time." Ure. SHEARING. The process of clipping the fleece from a sheep ; also, in former times, the art of cutting off with shears the superfluous nap of various stuffs, a work requiring no little skill and dexterity. Manual labour in this branch of manufacture is now entirely driven out of the market by machinery, and the ancient craft, which in 1504 was said to have been carried on from time immemorial is now "clean forgotten, like a dead man out of mind." SHE ( 29S ) SHO SHEET. That which is shot or spread out ; a large thin piece of any- thing ; a large broad piece of cloth in a bed ; a large broad piece of paper. (A.-S. sceat, from sceotan, to shoot, to extend, Ger. schote, the sheet.) Donald. SHIRT (Dan. sJciorte, Ice. skh'ta) is derived from the A.-S. sceort, short, that probably from the Latin curtus, having a similar meaning ; so that a shirt is literally a short garment. It was called by our Saxon ancestors indiscriminately sherte or camise (chemise), and the under- most garments of both sexes were then of similar shape and materials. It began to be decorated with embroidery under the Normans when worn by the nobility. The camise of Richard I. on his effigy at Fontevraud is bordered with golden-raised studs. It is not, however, until we obtain later delineations that we see its embroidery. In the reign of Henry VII. decorated shirts are named ; but in that of Henry VIII. , paintings and drawings of Holbein furnish us with actual representations of luxurious embroidered shirts. A shirt of silk is mentioned in the romance of Li beau disconus (14th century), and a shirt of fine holland in the 25th Coventry Mystery; and Skelton notices their luxuriousness as well as Stnbbes. Holland and cambric were generally used at this time. The poor countryman in Thynne's Pride and Lowliness wears " A sherte of canvas hard and tough, Of which the band and ruffes were both of one ; So fine that I might see his skin them through." (Fairholt : Costume in England.) A sumptuary law of the 24th year of Henry VIII. forbade the wearing of pinched shirts, or plain shirts garnished with gold, silver, or silk, to all persons under the rank of knighthood. Among Henry's own apparel are found borders of gold for shirts, shirts wrought and trimmed with black and white silk, and shirt bands of silver with ruffles to the same, whereof one is " perled (studded or spangled) with gold." It is a practice in some countries for the bride to present her intended husband with an embroidered wedding shirt. In the old Scotch song of " Gilderoy," the famous highwayman, we have an instance : " For Gilderoy, that luve of mine, Gude faith I freely bought, A wedding sark of Holland fine, Wi' silken flowers wrought." SHIRTIXGS, Grey. A staple of our foreign trade, made in pieces of 36 yards long, and from 36 to 45 inches broad. The particular weight in demand is 7 lb. shirting. SHODDY ; properly shed stuff. Properly waste thrown off in wool-spin- niDg, but now applied to the disintegrated or shredded wool of old cloth, reduced to this condition to be re-manufactured. The trade has become so extensive that large quantities of woollen rags are now annually im- ported to be made up again into cloth .* More than one claim has been put forward for the credit of founding this wealthy and important manufac- ture, but th^rp seems little doubt that Benjamin Law,. a small trader of * According to Ore, shoddy is not even shredded rags of any kind, hut " the refaBo of the willowing and scrihhling process in the preparation of mungo and wool." SHO ( 299 SHO Batley, first wove a piece of cloth from shoddy in 1813. Previous to this time, woollen rags had little commercial value, being used only to be torn up into flock for stuffing saddles or furniture, or employed in agriculture for manure, as the seams which are cut away from woollen rags before they are handed over to the shoddy " devil " are at present. The trade is now estimated to employ over 83,000 spindles, in 137 factories, worked by about 5,000 operatives. SHOP. Fr. eschoppe, echoppe. Junius thinks shop may be from shape, formare, because in it artists give form or shape (forman) to their commodities. Tooke thinks shop {shope, past part, of shape) to be — aliquid formation, something shope or skopen (in contradistinction from a stall), for the purpose of containing merchandise for sale, protected from the weather. To go shopping, — to go to different shops, cheapening, bargaining, buying. Shop-lifter: — to lift is to take up, to thieve ; a shop-lifter, one who thieves from shops (usually presenting themselves as customers). Kichardson. Originally a stall ; a building in which goods are sold by retail ; a place where mechanics work. (A.-S. sceoppa, a treasury, scypen ; Old Fr. eschoppe, a stall; Ger. schoppen, a shed. ) Donald. " And as for yron and laten to be so drawen in length ye shall se it done in xx shoppes almost in one strete." Sir T. More (1478-1535) : WorJces. " Which tooles I openlie confesse, be not of myne owne forging, but partlie left unto me by the cunningest master, and one of tke^vorthiest jentlemen that ever Englande bred, Syr John Cheke ; partlie borowed by me out of the shoppe of the dearest frende I have out of Englande, Joh. Sturmius." Ascham, scliole -master, 1570. " Our windows are broke down, And we for fear compell'd to shut our shops." Shakespeare. " Keep your shop, and your shop will keep you." Franklin (1706-1790). " Nor deems he wiser him, who gives his noon To Miss, the mercer's plague, from shop to shop, Wond'ring and litt'ring with unfolded silks The polish' d counter, and approving none, Or promising with smiles to call again." Cowper : TasJc, 1784. ' ' Like those women they call shop-lifters, who, when they are challenged for their thefts, appear to be mighty angry and affronted." Swift : Examiner, 1808. SHOT STUFFS. These beautiful fabrics are by no means new. James, in his History of the Worsted Manufacture, is of opinion that " In all likelihood the Walloons brought with them a method of beautifying their stuns — namely, the art of producing a shifting or changing shade of colour in the piece, by the intermixture of weft and warp of different dyes, or some other method, probably copied from ' shot silks ' as they were termed, and similar to a description of goods produced of late years for the worsted piece market. Such a changing stuff appears to have been the Caungeantries, evidently a Walloon stuff, judging from the name." But there is ample evidence that shot or changeable stuffs were known and woven here long before any Walloons came over. So early as the 7th century Bishop Adhelm, of Sherborne, in his poem De Virginitatt speaks of stuffs of two colours : " It is not the web of one uniform colour and texture that pleases the eye and appears beautiful, but one SHE, ( 300 ) SIL that is woven with shuttles filled with threads of purple and various other colours flying from side to side," and speaks also of shuttles " not filled with purple only, but with various colours, moved here and there among the thick spreading of the threads." Ducange defines Cangium as " a stuff chiefly of one colour, but intermixed with another of less body, so that the colour seemingly changes, according to the position in which it is viewed. Denoting even a greater advance in the art of weaving than stuffs of two interchanging colours, we find that in Exeter Cathedral, in 1327, was a silk clothe "of red colour inside and yellow outside." York Minister in, 1543, had a vestment of grene chaungeable " and another "of silke, diversis coloribus," as well as 11 Two dalmaticks of changeable damask lynedwith red sarcenet. One vestment of changeable taffety for G-ood Friday. Another of changeable silke with images." " Caungeantries " are mentioned with other materials as works mixed with silk, saitrie, or linen yarn, in the Book of Drapery (1570) belonging to the Hall at Norwich ; and Paul Hentzner, who visited England in 1602, in describing the dress of Elizabeth, says, "Her gown was white silk, bordered with pearls the size of beans, and over it a mantle of bluish silk shot with silver threads." " The tailor make thy doublet of changeable taffeta, for thy mind is a very opal." Twelfth Night, act ii., sc. 4. SHROUD (scrud or scrydan, Saxon, to clothe). A garment to wrap a dead corps in. Bailey. SHUTTLE. An instrument used for shooting the thread of the woof between the threads of the warp in weaving. (A.-S. sceathel — sceotan, to shoot, Dan. and Sw. skyttel, Ice. shutul.) Donald. " Life is a shuttle." Merry Wives of Windsor, SIGN (from the Latin signum, or Fr. signe) deno tes a mark or token, proof. There is thus some sense in the apparen tly meaningless cry which calls a shopwalker to attest a bill. SILESIA. Sleasy holland, a kind of holland, thus called because made in Silesia, in Germany, and which, from its slightness occasions all thin, slight, ill- wrought hollands to be called sleasy. E. Chambers : Cyclopaedia, 1741 . A duchy or country now chiefly belonging to Prussia ; hence a species of linen cloth so-called ; thin coarse linen. Webster. SILICIOUS. Made of cilicium, i.e., goats' hair ; a kind of clothing first used in Cilicia. "A garment of camel's hair, that is, made of some texture of the hair, a coarse garment : a cilicious or sack-cloth habit ; suitable to the austerity of his life ; the severity of his doctrine, repentance ; and the place thereof, the wilderness." Brown : Vulgar Errors. SILK. The delicate soft thread produced by certain insects ; thread or cloth woven from it. (A.-S. seolc, L. scricum, Gr. scrikon — scr, the seric or silkworm, from Seres, the ancient Chinese, from whom silk was first obtained.) Fr. soie, It. seta, Sp., Port, seda, Ger. scide, Du. zijde, Da. sdkc, Sw. silke, siden, Russ. sheolk, Pers. ab-rashum, Hind, rasum, rjshum. SIL ( 301 ) SIL This, the most beautiful and strongest of all fibres, is not only pro- duced from the common silkworm, but also from the cocoons of the larvae of several moths both of Europe and India, and from spiders. The only worms commercially important besides the Bombyx mori, the mulberry-feeding worm, are the Tussah and Arindy, worms of India. Our supplies are derived from China, India, Italy, and the Levant, although efforts are being made to cultivate it in most of the colonies and in California. France produces a great deal, but fails to supply her own wants. The annual value of the silk goods manufactured here is computed at 10 millions, occupying 842,538 spinning spindles, 176,401 doubling spindles, on 12,546 power looms, in 706 factories, giving em- ployment to 40,985 operatives. The written records of the Chinese empire are said to carry back a knowledge of the treatment of silk to a date 2,700 years before the Christian era, when the utility and excellence of the material derived from the silkworm was discovered by their empress, See-ling-shee, consort of Hoang-tee, who with her own royal hands first unravelled the cocoons, and wove the glossy filaments into a web " of glorious sheen." Not only for many ages did this people have a monopoly of the manu- facture, but, so far as can be learned, they held and jealously guarded all the stock of silkworms, so that the fabrics imported by the Romans were a matter of curiosity and conjecture, it being supposed that silk was made from fleeces growing upon trees, from J;he bark of trees, or from flowers — tales evidently founded on slender facts connected indis- criminately with cotton, flax, and silk. " The knowledge of silk was first brought into Europe through the conquests of Alexander the Great. Strabo quotes a passage from Nearchus in which it is mentioned, but apparently confounded with cotton. It is well known that Aristotle obtained a full and accurate account of all the discoveries in natural history which were made during the conquest of Alexander, and he gives a particular description of the silkworm — so particular, indeed, that it is surprising how the ancients could, for nearly six hundred years after his death, be ignorant of the nature and origin of silk. He describes the silkworm as a horned worm, which he calls Bombyx, which passes through several transformations, and produces Bombytria. It does not appear, however, that he was acquainted either with the native country of this work, or with such a people as the Seres,* and this is the only aeason for believing that he may allude entirely to a kind of silk made * Silk was first described as coming from Serica or Sereinda, that part of India which lies beyond the Ganges. Seres is the designation given by the Greeks and Komans to the people who inbabited these remote regions, and Sereinda is, apparently, a compound of Seres and Indi. The latter is a general term applied by the ancients to all distant nations, with as little precision as India is now used by modern Europeans. " It is now so generally admitted that the Seres of the ancients are the Chinese of the moderns that it is unnecessary to enter into any discussion in proof of this belief. Se is the name for silk in the Chinese language ; this, by a faulty pronunciation, not uncommon in their frontier provinces, acquired the final r, thus changing the word into Ser, the very name adopted by the Greeks. We can, therefore, hardly doubt that these obtained the name, as well as the material itself, first from China." Porter: Silk Manufacture. (Lardner's Cabinet Cyclojxedia.) SIL ( 302 ) SIL at Cos, especially as he adds that some womenin this island decomposed the bombytria and rewove and re-spun it. (See Bombasin.) Pliny also mentions the bombyx, and describes it as a native of Assyria; he adds that the Assyrians made bombytria from it, and that the in- habitants of Cos learnt the manufacture from them. The most probable supposition is that silk was spun and wove in Assyria and Cos, but the raw material imported into these countries from the Seres ; for the silk- worm was deemed by the Greeks and Romans so exclusively and pre- eminently the attribute of the Sinse that from this very circumstance they were denominated Seres, or silkworms, by the ancients. The next authors who mention silk are Virgil and Dionysius the geographer. Virgil supposes the Seres to card their silk from leaves : VelUraque ut folils depectunt tenuia Seres. Dionysius, who was sent by Augustus to draw up an account of the Oriental regions , says that rich and valuable garments were manufactured by the Seres from threads finer than those of the spider, which they combed from flowers. (Stevenson : Progress of Discovery.) A later author, Pausanias, states that the Greek name for the spinning worm was seer, that the insect lived five years, and fed on green haulm. Although it 13 not known precisely at what time silk was worn in Rome, the date has been assigned to the reign of Julius Caesar. The fabrics were soon worn of such indecent transparency as to incur the censure of writers of that period, and at the commencement of the reign of Tiberius a law was passed forbidding any man to dishonour himself by wearing silken garments ; but this did not prevent the wearing of the light fabrics of Cos during the heat of summer, in spite of the scorn of the satirists and reproof of the moralists. For two hundred years after the age of Pliny the use of silk was confined to the female sex, till the richer citizens, both of the capital and the provinces, followed the example of Heliogabalus, the first man who, according to Lampridius, wore holosericum, that is, a garment wholly composed of silk. From this expression, however, it is evident that, previous to this period, male inhabitants of Rome had been in the habit of wearing silk mixed with linen or woollen. Hitherto there is no intimation in ancient authors of the price of silk at Rome ; in the time of Aurelian, however — that is, towards the end of the 3rd century — we learn the high price at which it was rated in an indirect manner. For when the wife of that emperor begged of him to permit her to have but one single garment of purple silk, he refused it, saying that one pound of silk sold at Rome for twelve ounces, or its weight, of gold. This agrees with what is laid down in the Rhodian maritime laws, as they appear in the eleventh book of the Digest, according to which unmixed silk goods paid a salvage, if they were saved without being damaged by the sea water, of ten per cent., as being equal in value to gold. (Howell : History of the World.) In about a hundred years after the reign of Aurelian the importation of silk into Rome must have increased very greatly ; for Ammianus Marcellinus, who flourished a.d. 3S0, expressly states that silk, which had formerly been confined to the great and rich, was in his time within the purchase of the common people. Constantinople was founded about forty years before he wrote, and it naturally found its way there in greater abundance than it had done when Rome was the capital of the empire. From this time to the middle of the Gth SIL ( 303 ) SIL century we have no particular information respecting the silk trade of the Roman empire. At this period, during the reign of Justinian, silk had become an article of very general and indispensable use : but the Persians had occupied by land and sea the monopoly of this article ; so the inhabitants of Tyre and Berytus, who had all along manufactured it for the Roman market, were no longer able to procure a sufficient supply, even at an extravagant price. Besides, when the manu- factured goods were brought within the Roman territories, they were subject to a duty of 10 per cent. Justinian, under these circumstances, very impolitically ordered that silk should be sold at the rate of eight pieces of gold for the pound, or aoout three pounds four shillings. The consequence was such as might have been expected : silk goods were no longer imported, and, to add to the injustice and the evil, Theodora, the emperor's wife, seized all the silk and fined the merchants very heavily ; so that the trade was utterly ruined and the silk supply entirely stopped. It was therefore necessary that Justinian should have recourse to some other measure to obtain silk goods ; instead, however, of restoring the trade of Egypt, which at this period had fallen into utter decay, and sending vessels directly from the Red Sea to the Indian markets, where the raw material might have been procured, he had recourse to Arabia and Abyssinia. According to Suidas, he wished the former to import the silk in a raw state, intend- ing to manufacture it on his own dominions ; but th^e King of Abyssinia declined the offer, as the vicinity of the Persians to the Indian markets for silk enabled them to purchase it at a cheaper rate than the Persians could procure it. The same obstacles prevented the Arabians from complying with the request of Justinian. The wealthy and luxurious Romans, therefore, must have been deprived of this elegant material for their dresses, had not their difficulties been relieved and the silk trade revolutionized by an event, one of the most romantic and important in the annals of trade. Two Persian monks sent on a religious embassy to India had penetrated the country of the Seres, and made themselves acquainted with the secret of silk production. ' ' There, amidst their pious occupations, they viewed with a curious eye the common dress of the Chinese, the manufactures of silk, and the myriads of silk- worms, whose education, either on trees or in houses, had once been considered the labour of queens. They soon discovered that it was impracticable to transplant the short-lived insect, but that in the eggs a numerous progeny might be preserved and multiplied in a distant climate." Actuated either by greed of gain or an honest desire to make their discovery serve their holy cause, they passed by their own countrymen, and imparted their knowledge to Justinian, whose promises induced them to return to procure the necessary supply of eggs. These they safely obtained, and brought to Constanti- nople in a hollow cane in the year 552, where at the proper season they were hatched by the warmth of manure, and the young worms fed with leaves of the wild mulberry. The worms were carefully reared, pro- pagated, and "a caneful of the eggs of an oriental insect thus became the means of establishing a manufacture which fashion and luxury had already rendered important, and of saving vast sums annually to Euro- pean nations, which in this respect had been so long dependent on and obliged to submit to the exactions of their Oriental neighbours." The SIL ( 304 ) SIX Romans quickly became proficient in silk manufacture, so that an embassy which came there in the following reign, hoping to open up a favourable trade between China and Rome, finding their trade anticipated, acknow- ledged that the " outer barbarians" of those days not only required no silks, but did not need instruction in the art of making them. This result was perhaps due to further arbitrary measures on the part of Justinian, who took the whole trade into his own hands, had it conducted solely under the management of his treasurer, pressed weavers into his employ, and fixed the prices at which the fabrics should be sold. " Silks of the imperial manufacture were sold at prices prodigiously beyond those which he had formerly prohibited as excessive. An ounce weight of the fabric thus manufactured could not be obtained under the price of six pieces of gold. The article was thus rendered eightfold more expensive than it had been before the silkworm was introduced. This was the price demanded for common colours ; but when tinged with the royal hue the fabric immediately assumed a quadruple value. Under these circumstances of Imperial rapacity the introduction of silkworms could not have much benefited the Roman people. But the exclusive rearing of silkworms and the manufacture of their produce did not long remain a merely royal prerogative. The discovery that the worm could conduct its labours with as much advantage in Europe as in the climes where it first became the object of human attention was quickly made subservient to practical utility, and vast numbers of these valuable insect labourers were, nourished by their natural food, successfully reared in different parts of Greece, and particularly in the Peloponnesus." (Porter.) Here, for over six hundred years fixed the exclusive home of the silk manufacture in Europe, until Roger I., King of Sicily, about the year 1130, carried off a number of artificers in the silk trade from Athens, and setting them in Palermo, introduced the culture of silk into his kingdom, from which it was communicated to other parts of Italy (Gianon : History of Naples), particularly in Calabria. This seems to have rendered silk so common that about the middle of the 14th century a thousand citizens of Genoa appeared in one procession clad in silk robes. Previously to this it had been so scarce and expensive as to form presents to kings, history recording that Charlemagne, in 790, sent Offa, King of Mercia, two silken vests ; and Afred is recorded by his biographer, Asser, to have presented Sighelm, a missionary, with a robe of silk and as much incense as a strong man could carry. The success of the Sicilians in silk culture and weaving so greatly excited the envy of the Venetians, who had formerly enjoyed a monopoly of the trade through their Eastern commerce, that solely on this account war between the two countries broke out in 1148. But Palermo silk-working still throve, running Greek goods out of the market. With other Italian states, it received great benefit and accession of wealth through the Crusades. "They not only imported the Indian commo- dities from the East, but established manufactures of curious fabrics in their own country. Several of these are enumerated by Muratori in his Dissertations concerning tlie Arts and the Weaving of the Middle Aye*. They made great progress, particularly in the manufacture of silk, which had long been peculiar to the eastern provinces of Asia. Silk stuffs were of such high price in ancient Rome that only a few SIL ( 305 ) SIL persons of the first rank were able to purchase them." (Muratori : Antiq. Ital.) From Italy the trade soon spread to southern France and Spain, where it was introduced at a very early period by the Moors, particularly in Murcia, Cordova, and Granada. At this time it is mentioned as purchased for Henry II., Pro tribus pannus sericis, eight pounds six shillings, and " for silken cloths for the King," twenty-eight pounds. Later, John bought " sundry silken cloths of Spain." The supremacy in silk manufacture was early in the 13th century acquired by the Venetians — again by conquest, Constantinople falling 'before their army, assisted by the leaders of the fourth Crusade. "In the partition of the Greek Empire, which followed this success, the Venetians obtained part of the Peloponnesus, where, at this period, silk was manufactured to a great extent. By this accession, to which was added several of the largest islands in the Archipelago, their seacoast extended from Venice to Constantinople ; they likewise purchased the island of Crete. The whole trade of the eastern Roman Empire was thus at once transferred to the Venetians, two branches of ■which particularly attracted their attention — the silk trade and that with India. The richest and most rare kinds of silk were manufactured at Constantinople, and to carry on this trade many Venetians settled themselves in the city, and they soon extended it very considerably, and introduced the manufacture itself into Venice with so much success that the silks of Venice equalled those of Greece and Sicily." To aid in its establishment, the silk manufacture, with two other trades — glass- blowing and drug-compounding — were held not to be derogatory to gentle blood, and the nobility were allowed to engage in it without degradation. The wear of silk had by this time become more general in England, for at the marriage of the daughter of Henry III. to Alexander, King of Scotland, in 1251, Matthew Paris states that a thousand knights appeared ' ' in vestments of silk commonly called cointises," a kind of voluminous scarf worn about the helmet. These were changed on the following day for similar garments of different colours, and at the coronation of Henry and his queen even citizens were present wearing cyclades worked with gold over vestments of silk. In this reign richer silks — baudekin, samite, velvet, and ciclatoun — are mentioned, denoting not only greater display in dress, but greater excellence in manufacture. In the year 1261 the Greek emperor, aided by the Genoese, regained Constantinople ; afterwards fearing his friends, he engaged with the Venetians against them, but the Genoese proved victorious, and thus acquired a lucrative commerce and the supremacy in silk. Venice, however, and later Florence also, continued to prosecute the manufacture vigorously, finding through Egypt a new outlet of trade. In the beginning of the 14th century Modena was reputed the principal seat of the silk manufacture, although in 1300 "many thousand" per- sons are said to have been employed in it at Florence. Bologna, Lucca, and Milan also shared in the trade. In this century is found the earliest historical notice of the silk manufacture in England, in an Act of Parlia- ment of the 37th year of Edward III., which restricted different artificers, merchants, and shopkeepers to the manufacture of or trading in one particular kind of goods, according to their own choice, which they were required to make or declare by a certain day named 4 in the SIL ( 306 ) SIL Act, and in which extraordinary restriction especial exemption is made in favour of female brewers, bakers, weavers, spinsters, and other women employed upon works in wool, linen, or silk, in embroidery, &c. ; but the occupation was of so very little importance, and remained so entirely stationary, that in 1455 the "mystery of silkwomen " was again protected by an Act of Parliament, forbidding the importation of all wrought silk belonging to their trade during five years to come ; " which prohibition proceeded from England, being at that time over- stocked by foreigners, as appears by the following original statute. * Upon the heavy complaint of the women of the mystery and trade of silk and thread workers in London, it appeared, or was shown, that divers Lom- bards, and other foreigners, enriched themselves by ruining the said mystery, and all such kinds of industrious occupations of the women of our Kingdom. These must have probably been only needleworks of silk and thread, since only women are said to be concerned in them ; for the broad silk manufacture did not commence in England till long after this time. " Anderson. The articles then prohibited, described as similar to the articles made by the silkwomen, are small wares, such as "twined ribands, chains, or girdles." This Act was supplemented by another passed eight years later by Edward IV., which set forth that — " It was shewed in the said Parliament (to our Sovereign Lord the King, and to the Lords of the Parliament) by the Silk women and spinsters (Throwesters) of Silk within the City of London, that divers Lomberds and other Aliens, Strangers, imagining to destroy their Crafts and all such virtuous Occupations for Women within this Land, to the Intent to enrich themselves, and to put such Occupations into other lands, daily bringing (being nowe daily) into this Realm (of England) wrought Silk, wrought (throwen) Ribbands, and Laces, falsely and deceitfully wrought, corses of silk and all manner of other things touching the same Mysteries and Occupations ready wrought, and will not bring in any unwrought Silk as these were wont to do, to the final Destruction of the said Mysteries and Occupations." Therefore it was ordained and established that all such goods, if im- ported, should be forfeited, and that every seller of them should forfeit for every default ten pounds ; the Mayor of London being empowered to appoint persons to make diligent search for the same. The prohibited articles include fringes of silk, silk twined, silk in anywise embroidered, purses, gloves, and girdles, and tires of silk or gold. This was again followed in 1482 by two statutes forbidding the importation or wearing of "ribbands, laces, corses, girdles, callisilk (Calais silk), or colleinsilk (Cologne silk), twined," under forfeiture thereof or their value ; and yet again in 1504 was passed another prohibitory Act "For Silkewomen," providing " That none brynge into this realme to be solde any sylke wrought out of thys realme by itself or wyth other stuf in rybandys, luces, gyrdyls, corses, calles, corses of tyssue or poyntes upon forfeytor thereof, or the valew of the game in whose handys eoeuer they be found And that al persons as well straungcrs as other may brynge in all other manor sylke as well wrought as raw or unwrought to sell at theyr plesur." Bacon, in his History of Henry VII., says that all these small articles " the people of England could then well skill to make," but that all * This statute is not included among the printed Acts of Parliament. SIL ( 307 ) SIL other silken fabrics were permitted unrestricted importation, " for that the realm had of them no manufacture in use at that time. " About this time the silk industry became firmly established in France. Attempts made at Lyons in 1450 and at Tours in 1470 had proved futile, but now in 1521 workmen were brought from the newly- acquired Duchy of Milan, and settled at Lyons ; " but it was not till 1564 that they began successfully to produce the silk itself, when Traucat, a working gardener at Nismes, formed the first nursery of white mulberry trees, and with such success that in a few years he wa3 .enabled to propagate them over many of the southern provinces of France. Prior to this time some French noblemen, on their return from the conquest of Naples, had introduced a few silkworms with the mulberry into Dauphigny, but the business had not prospered in their hands. The mulberry plantations were greatly encouraged by Henry IV., and since then they have been the source of most beneficial employ- ment to the French people." (Ure.) Silk appears to have about the middle of the 16th century come into common wear in England, for a sumptuary law of 1554 threatened pains and penalties to all those below the position of magistrates of corporations who should "wear silk in or upon his or her hat, bonnet, girdle, scabbard, hose, shoes, or spur leather," and we find it used, not only for the stockings of Elizabeth and her Court, but also for linings. Thynne in his poem, A Debate between Pride and Ifowliness, speaks of a doublet " of sat tin very fine, And it was cut and stitched very thiek ; Of silk I had a costly enterlyne." The manufacture of woven fabrics commenced in this country, and was " first practis'd in London by Foreigners." There are traces of their being associated in a fellowship in the year 1562, although they were not incorporated until 1629, the Company of Silkmen also being granted a Charter three years later by Charles I. For a long period prior to this date the principal trade in silk had been carried on by the Netherlanders, but Bologna, Venice, Milan, Florence, and Genoa are shown by Guicciardini as the places where the principal supplies of wrought silks were derived, and the raw material from Naples and Sicily. But early in the 17th century the English appear as having a share in this traffic. The Merchant's Map oj Commerce, 1638, showing the East India Company importing both raw and wrought silks from India and Persia, the Turkey Company bringing in th raw silks of Damasco, Persia, Tripoly, &c, and a number of private traders return from the Mediterranean ports satins, tabins, taffetas, plushes, and velvets. The manufacture of broad silk fabrics began "in earnest" in the latter part of King James I.'s reign; " For which end, one Mr. Burlamach, a merchant much employed n those times by that prince, by his direction brought from abroad silk throwsters, silk dyers, and broad weavers ; which manufacture has, in process of time, proved so extremely advantageous to the nation, and is so very considerable in our days, as to be thought to employ no fewer than at least 50,000 people in all its branches, and some think half as many more." Mr. Munn, in his Treatise (A Discourse of Trade, 1621), says, that even then many hundreds of people were continually x 2 SIL ( 308 ) SIL employed in winding, twisting, and weaving of silk in London. The anonymous author of an ingenious pamphlet,* in quarto, published in 16S1 (said to have been Sir Josiah Child), gives it as his opinion, "that throughout Christendom, generally speaking, there are more men and women employed in silk manufactures than in woollen." In which we must beg leave to differ from him ; as also in another assertion in that piece, viz., "that, the number of families already (1681) employed therein in England amounted to above 40,000." ( Axdersox. )+ It is, however, certain that, whatever the exact number of persons employed may have been, that the manufacture at this period assumed large dimensions, as may be gathered from a proclamation issued by Charles I., in 1630, setting forth "that the trade in silk within this realm, by the importation thereof raw from foreign parts, and throwing, dyeing, and working the same into manufactures here at home, is much increased within a few years past. But a fraud in the dyeing thereof being lately discovered by adding to the weight of silk in the dye beyond a just proportion, by a false and deceitful mixture in the ingredients used in dyeing, whereby also the silk is weakened and corrupted, and the colour made worse ; wherefore we strictly command, that no silk dyer do hereafter use any slip, alder, bark, filings of iron, or other deceitful matter, in dyeing silk, either black or coloured ; that no silk shall be dyed of any other black than Spanish black, and not of the dye called London black, or light-weight ; neither shall they dye any silk before the gum be fair boiled off from the silk, being raw." The same monarch, in the year 1638, issued directions removing, in part the prohibitions imposed by his former proclamation, and ' ' permitting such silk to be dyed upon the gum, commonly called hard silk, as was proper for making tufted taffetas, figured satins, fine slight ribands, and ferret ribands, both black and coloured ; " and as his reason for this departure from his former directions stated, with a degree of candour not always admitted into the edicts of princes, that he had now become better informed upon the subject. This order further directed that no stuffs made of or mixed with silk should be imported if of a less breadth than a full half yard, nail and half-nail, on pain of forfeiture. In another proclamation issued by him for the reforming of abuses which it was alleged had crept into practice in the manufacture and breadth of silks, the Weavers' Company were empowered to admit into their commonalty a competent number of such persons, whether strangers or natives, as had exercised the trade of weaving for one year at least before the date of a new charter then recently granted to that company, provided the parties so a< ' ritted should be conformable to the laws of the realm, and to the constitution of the Church of England. (Porter.) The Book of Rates shows imports of Naples and Granada raw silk, of China silk, Bruges silk, Ferret or Floret silk, Fillozell or Paris silk, Pole and Spanish silk, Organzine, Morea silk, sattin silk, sleeve silk, * A Treatise wherein is demonstrated that the East India Trade is the most national of all Trades. f The preamble to an Act passed in 1661, for regulating the trade of silk throwing, observes that, " the said Company of silk throwsters employ above forty thousand men, women, and children therein." SIL ( 309 ) SIL thrown silk, and nubs, and of wrought Italian and Indian silk. These latter were charged with differential duties upon their being brought over in English-built ships. " English throne silk " was also exported, as well as " other silk manufactures made of silk onely, or of silk and worsted, or of silk and thred, or hair." The demand for silk at this time seems to have been very large, so much so that the East India Company sent out throwsters, weavers, and dyers " to teach the Indians to please the European fancies."* (Discourse on Trade, 1696.) A com- plaint is made by a writer of that time that : " The English formerly wore or used little Silk in City or Countrey, only Persons of Quality pretended to it ; but as our National Gaudery hath increased, it grew more and more into mode, and is now become the Common Wear, nay, the" ordinary material for Bedding, Hanging of Rooms, Carpets, Lining of Coaches, and other things ; and our Women, who generally govern in this Case, must have Foreign Silks ; for these have got the Name, and in truth are most curious, and perhaps better wrougbt, as being most Encouraged. Of tbe same humour are tbeir Gallants, and such as they can influence, and most others." (Britannia Languens ; or, a Discourse of Trade, 1680.) A considerable impulse was given to the English silk manufacture by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, in 1685, when large numbers of the Protestant artisans sought refuge here, and among them a large company of silk weavers. " An entire suburb of London was peopled with French manufacturers of silk," says Voltaire^ alluding to Spital- fields, although there were besides some thousands who settled in St. Giles's and Soho, with others who were dispersed about the country. One section established themselves at Canterbury, bringing there the manufacture to that perfection that, according to Camden, "the silks wove at Canterbury equal, if not exceed, any foreign silk whatsoever, great quantities being sent to London, where it is very much esteemed by the merchants." (Brittania.) Others formed colonies at Norwich and Coventry. The refugees lost no opportunity of furthering their interests, and acquired in 1692 a monopoly of alamodes (see Alamode), procured in 1697 by their clamour the prohibition of French fabrics, and in 1701 a further prohibition of Chinese, Persian, and Indian goods. This latter Act, "for the more effectual employing the poor," commanded even the re-exportation of those stuffs, together with all coloured foreign calicoes, "so as none of the said goods should be worn or used, in either apparel or furniture, in England on forfeiture thereof, and also of two hundred pounds penalty on the persons having or selling any of them." The weavers, in 1713, presented a petition to Parliament against a commercial treaty with France, in which they stated, "that by the encouragement of the Crown, and of divers Acts of Parliament, the silk manufacture is come to be above twenty times as great as it was in the year 1664 ; and that all sorts of as good black and coloured silks, gold and silver stuffs and ribands, are now made here as in France. The black silk for hoods and scarfs, not made here above twenty-five years ago, hath amounted annually to above £300,000 for several years past, which before were imported from France. Which increase of the silk manufacture hath caused an increase of our exportation of woollen goods to Turkey, * This was afterwards denied by the Company before the Privy Council, 4< Excepting only as to one or two Dyers usually sent to Bengal." SIL ( 310 ) SIL Italy, &c. " There is the more reason to give credence to this ex parte statement in that a work published in 1721, entitled The British Merchant, substantiates the assertions made as to the advancement of the silk trade during the period indicated. Up to this time the silk machinery here was so ineffective that our main supply of organzine was derived from Italy. An attempt made at Derby early in the 18th century, by a person named Crochet, to introduce silk machinery had failed ; but more success attended the efforts of John Lombe. The story of his perseverance and reward is pretty well known : how he visited Italy, assuming the disguise of a common workman, and by bribing two workmen of the mill at which he obtained employment, procured a view of the machinery in private and when it was not at work, so making himself thoroughly conversant with all its parts ; how, being found out just at the time when his researches were complete, he had to flee for his life, accompanied by his accomplices. The little party landed in 1717, and two years later a large mill had been erected on the river Derwent at Derby, and a patent was granted to him by an Act^ of Parliament (5 George I.) for the sole and exclusive property in the same for fourteen years. This mill was regarded with much wonderment and admiration. A contemporary account says of the machinery, that by it — " One Hand will Wist as much Silk as before could be done by 50, and that in a truer and better Manner : This Engine contains 26,586 Wheels, and 97,746 Movements, which work 73,726 Yards of Silk-Thread, every Time the Water- Wheel goes round, which is three Times in one Minute, and 318,504,960 Yards in one Day and Night. One Water-Wheel gives Motion to all the rest of the Wheels and Movements, of which any one may be stopped separately. One Fire-Engine likewise conveys warm Air to every individual Part of the Machine, and the whole Work is governed by one Regulator. The House which contains this Engine is of a vast Bulk, and five or six Stories high." This account further states that — " The requisite Buildings and Engines, and the instructing proper Persons to work them, took up so much Time, and when all was completed, the King of Sardinia prohibiting the Importation of Raw Silk made by the said Engines, into his Dominions, all which rendered the Undertaking expensive and difficult, and the Term of 14 Years being near elapsed, without any great Benefit accruing from the useful Invention, Sir Thomas apply' d for a Consideration from the Publick ; and the Parliament accordingly, to preserve so useful an Undertaking for the Benefit of the Kingdom in general, allotted 14,O0OZ. to be paid to Sir Tlwmas, on Condition that he should allow a perfect Model to be taken of his new-invented Engines, in order to secure and perpetuate the Art of making the same. The Preamble to this Act sets forth, that Sir Tlwmas Lombe did with the utmost Difficulty and Hazard, and at a very great Expence, discover the Art of making and working the three Capital Engines made Use of by the Italians to make their Organzine Silk, and did introduce those Arts and Inventions into this Kingdom." For the encouragement of this manufacture there was passed, in 1721, an Act granting bounties on the exportation of home-made silken stuffs and ribands, and mixed stuffs of silk and grogram, silk and inkle or cotton, and silk and worsted, counteracting in favour of the home manu- facturer heavy duties, which had two years previous been imposed on foreign organzine. In the former year also the importation of printed Indian calicoes was again prohibited, " To preserve and encourage the SIL ( 311 ) SIL Woollen and Silk Manufactures, " and another Act of the same year, " For encouraging the consumption of Raw Silk and Mohair Yarn." Buttons or button-holes of cloth or other stuff were forbidden. In 1749 the duties paid on raw silk brought in by the East India Company from China were reduced to the same rates as were paid on Italian silk, and an Act passed encouraging the growth of silk in Georgia and South Carolina, by admitting it into London duty free. The promise afforded at one time by the introduction of silk culture into these colonies was checked almost as soon as formed by the greater growth of cotton planting. The worst evil to which the industry was exposed was the extensive practice of smuggling — a practice so lucrative, in consequence of the high duties, that the "Owiers," as they were called, defied all official vigilance and* disregarded all threats of punishment. " The French writers estimate the average exportation of silks from France to England, during the period from 1688 to 1741, at about 12,500,000 francs, or 500,000Z. a year. In 1763 attempts were made to check the prevalence of smug- gling ; and the silk mercers of the metropolis, to show their anxiety to forward the scheme, are said to have recalled their orders for foreign goods. It would seem, however, either that their patriotic ardour had very soon cooled, or that they had been supplanted by others not quite so scrupulous, for it appears from a report of a committee of the Privy Council, appointed in 1766 to inquire into the subject, that smuggling was then carried on to a greater extent than ever, and that 7,072 looms were out of employment. The same committee reported, that though the French were decidedly superior to us in some branches of the trade, we were quite equal, and even superior to them in others ; but instead of proposing, consistently with their report, to admit French silks on a reasonable duty — a measure which would have proved very advantageous to those branches of the manufacture in which we were superior, or nearly equal, to the French, without doing any material injury to the others, which were already in the most depressed condition — they recommended the continuance of the old system ; substituting absolute prohibitions in the place of the prohibitory duties that formerly existed. Whatever immediate advantages the manufacturers might have reaped from this measure, the ultimate tendency of which could not fail of being most injurious, were effectually countervailed by the turbulent proceed- ings of the workmen, who succeeded, in 1773, in obtaining from the Legislature an Act which, by itself, was quite sufficient to have destroyed even a prosperous trade. This, which has been commonly called the Spitalfields Act, entitled the weavers of Middlesex to demand a fixed price for their labour, which should be settled by the magistrates,* and while both masters and men were restricted from giving or receiving" more or less than the fixed price, the manufacturers were liable in heavy penalties if they employed weavers out of the district. The monopoly which the manufacturers had hitherto enjoyed, though incomplete, had had sufficient influence to render inventions and discoveries of compara- tively rare occurrence in the silk trade ; but the Spitalfields Act extinguished every germ of improvement. Parliament, in its wisdom, having seen fit to enact that a manufacturer should be obliged to pay as much for work done by the best machinery as if it were done by hand, it would have been folly to have thought of attempting anything new. It is not, however, to be denied that Macclesfield, Manchester, Norwich, Paisley, &c, are under obligations to this Act. Had it extended to the whole kingdom it would have totally extirpated the manufacture, but being confined to Middlesex, it gradually drove the most valuable branches from Spitalfields to places where the rate of wages was * Extended by 32 Geo. III. to include manufactures of silk mixed with other materials, and by 52 Geo. III. to include female weavers. SIL ( 312 ) S1L determined by the competition of the parties, on the principle of mutual interest and compromised advantage. After having done incalculable mischief, the Act was repealed in 1824. Had it continued down to the present day, it would not have left employment in the metropolis for a single silk weaver. " But, as the effects of this Act did not immediately manifest themselves, it was at first exceedingly popular. About 1785, however, the substitution of cot- tons in the place of silk gave a severe check to the manufacture, and the weavers then began to discover the real nature of the Spitalfields Act. Being inter- dicted from working at reduced wages, they were totally thrown out of employment ; so that, in 1793, upwards of 4,000 Spitalfields looms were quite idle. In 1798 the trade began to revive ; and continued to extend slowly till 1815 and 1816, when the Spitalfields weavers were again involved in sufferings far more extensive and severe than at any former period." (McCulloch.) The duties at the time of their repeal, in 1826, upon silk were on raw silk 5s. 6d. per lb., or 4s. per lb. if brought from British territories in the East Indies; thrown silk not dyed 14s. 8d., or dyed £2 5s. 6d. per lb. ; knubs, or waste silk, £22 8s. per cwt., or £21 if the produce of British territories in the East Indies. All manufactured goods were absolutely prohibited. These rates were reduced to 5s. on organzine and 3d. per lb. on other raw silk, while fabrics of silk were admitted on a scale ranging from 25 to 40 per cent, ad valorem, rates afterwards altered to waste silk, Is. per lb. ; raw, Id. per lb. ; thrown silk, undyed, from Is. 6d. to 3s. 6d per lb. ; and thrown silk, dyed, 3s. and 5s. 2d. per lb. In 1845 the duties on raw and thrown silk were totally abolished, and the duty on fabrics reduced to 15 per cent, ad valorem. The primary change was announced in 1824, but did not take effect until 1826. During the interval provided to allow our manufacturers to make preparations for the change the French had been accumulating a large stock of goods to pour into our markets. To quiet the alarm occasioned by this circumstance, a singular device was fallen upon. The French had long been accustomed to manufacture their goods of a certain length ; and in the view of rendering their accumulated stock unfit for our markets, a law was passed in 1826, prohibiting the importa- tion of any silks except such as were of entirely different lengths from those commonly manufactured by the French ! No one can regret that this wretched trick, for it deserves no better name, entirely failed in its object. The French manufacturers immediately commenced, with redoubled zeal, the preparation of goods of the legitimate length ; and the others, having become unsaleable at anything like fair prices, were bought up by the smugglers, and imported, almost entirely, into this country. Elaborate statistics have from time to time been marshalled to illus- trate the manufacture of silk, particularly for the comparison of the state of the industry in this with other countries. Similar tables fully portraying the present commerce in silk, giving the price of silk, the sources whence it is derived, the countries in which it is worked up, with values in each case, will be found in a paper furnished by the Secretary of the Silk Supply Association to the series of essays on British Manufacturimj Industries, and may be advantageously studied. Numerous efforts have at various times been made to establish silk culture in England, but they have uniformly ended in failure. Theo- retically silkworms ought to flourish in this country ; practically they will not. SIL ( 313 ) SIZ SILK COTTON TREE {Bombax Ceiba). The largest of a species of trees found in South America and the West Indies, the seed capsules of which contain a kind of soft glossy down, which has proved too short and springy to be used in weaving. It is employed to a limited degree in upholstery, and has been used for stuffing chairs and pillows, but is believed to be unwholesome to lie upon. From the bark of another tree of the same species ropes are made. SINDON. A fabric in use so early as the Babylonian era. Some writers have interpreted the term to then denote dyed cotton cloths, -but it more probably was applied to a fine linen. The same difficulty and doubt occurred in translating the works of Roman writers (see Byssus). A passage in the CJiarta Mercatoria allows foreign merchants, upon paying a subsidy of threepence for every pound of value dealt in, to bring in and sell " Cloth of Tarsen, of Silk, of Cindatis, of Hair, and divers others Merchandizes," where Cindatis is said to be Sindonibus — Lawn, Cambrick, or other Fine Linen {vide a reprint of this Act, 1671). Sindon, or Syndone, was also one of the transitional names of cendal, a silk stuff (see Cendal), so that the use of the term is in many instances confusing. Among the goods exported duty free in 1382 for the use of the Pope were "one entire robe lined with syndone," "one tabardum with supertunic and hood lined with blue syndone ; " and in these instances we may take it for granted that syndone was a thin silken fabric, akin to sarcenet. SIZING. A process in the manufacture of cotton, which began in necessity, but has ended in something very like dishonesty. The early cotton weavers in this country soon found that the threads became injured and frayed by contact with the machinery, and, frail even at the first, became so fragile by rubbing against reeds and shuttles that breakages became so frequent as to cause serious loss of time, through stopping the loom to pick up and join anew the severed ends. This evil was in some measure remedied by rubbing the yarn with a mix- ture of paste and grease, the weaver leaving off now and again to dress a fresh length of yarn. After the establishment of the power-loom the inconvenience and loss were still felt, even in a greater degree, and several attempts were made to meet the difficulty, but without effect, until a dressing machine for preparing the whole of the warp before weaving was produced at Stockport by a weaver named Johnson, in the employ of Messrs. Radcliffe and Ross, cotton manufacturers. Johnson invented the machine, but it was perfected and established by the senior partner of the firm. This machine only gave the threads such consistency as made them stable in weaving, and did not in any way load the material with unnecessary ingredients : the present sizing of warps frequently adds 100 per cent, to the weight of the original cotton. There can be as little question as to the immorality of the practice as to the injurious effects which must undoubtedly ensue to our trade, through the manufacture of these heavily-sized fabrics. Yet there are some who pan defend the practice, and maintain, as does Dr. Thompson, of Manchester, that " it has been so long practised, and is so universally known, that all purchasers must be aware of it, and of course not in any danger of being deceived. ... It certainly SIZ ( 314 ) SIZ serves the purpose of making the goods appear much more beautiful, and of a stouter fabric to the eye ; and as long as they continue un- washed they are really stronger than they would be without this arti- ficial dressing. So far it is beneficial, and, as it does not enhance the price, the purchasers have no reason to complain of imposition." A most elaborate defence of the practice was offered by the same gentleman in a paper read before the Society of Arts, and afterwards embodied in a work upon the subject. The paper gives as full an account as can be desired of the materials and processes employed, as the following extract will prove. The materials used for sizing pur- poses are divided by Mr. Thompson into five groups : " 1. For giving adhesive properties to size. Wheaten flour of various kinds. Sago. Farina. Indian corn starch. Rice. Dextrine or British gum. 1. Materials used to give iveiglit and body to the yarn. China clay. Sulphate of magnesia. Sulphate of baryta. Silicate of magnesia „ lime (Soapstone). „ magnesia. Silicate of soda. 3. Oily or greasy matter used for ' softening ' the size and yarn. Tallow of various kinds. Castor oil. Bleached palm oil. Olive and other oils. Cocoa-nut oil. Paraffin wax. Beeswax composition. 4. Oilier substances used for softening and giving weight and body to the size and yarn. Chloride of magnesium. Glycerine. „ calcium. Soap. Grape sugar. 5. For preserving the size from mildew and decomposition. Chloride of zinc. Carbolic acid. Salts of arsenic, &c." "In the first-mentioned class of materials the most commonly-used substance is Egyptian flour, because, as a rule, that is the cheapest flour which can be purchased ; but in selecting a substance from the first, or ' adhesive,' class the manufacturer ought to take into considera- tion the purpose for which it is required. If he intends to manufacture cloths for what they call the home trade, most of which are sold direct to the bleacher or calico printer, then size is required which will give strength to the warp without giving it much weight, because a bleacher always finds how much size cloth contains, and therefore his balance and weight are sure to keep an accurate account with the manufacturer ; because, if he buys a lot of pieces of cloth, each weighing eight and a quarter pounds, which is a common standard of weight, and finds after he has washed and bleached them that each weighs only five or six pounds, he knows there is something wrong, not only in having bought two or three pounds of size instead of cotton in each piece, but that the extra work and materials required to separate that stulVfrom the cotton have made the small amount of cotton he has left additionally expen- sive. If it be desired to put as little size on the threads of the warp as possible, a composition should be made by using farina as an adhesive, SIZ ( 315 ) SIZ because a much smaller proportion of this ingredient will produce a size having the required ' consistency ' or * body,' and the threads can therefore only absorb a small proportion of it. If, again, it be desired to put a large amount of size on the yarn, then wheaten flour is best adapted for this purpose, because an equal weight of it will boil to a much thinner liquid, and therefore the warp or yarn will be able to absorb into it much larger proportions. For the same reason, if it be desired to introduce a material giving greater weight, such as China clay, then wheaten flour is best adapted for fixing it to the thread ; and where a specially large proportion of clay is required to be fixed in the fabric English wheaten flour is better adapted for the purpose than Egyptian flour, because it contains a much larger proportion of gluten, and that ingredient has strong adhesive properties. The starchy matter which has perhaps least adhesive properties is rice, and this ingredient is often used to adulterate wheaten starch ; and so this is one of many causes of annoyance to which the sizer or manufacturer is subjected. Having bought flour, with which he mixes China clay and other ingredients in certain proportions, he finds that he is able to pro- duce a size which gives him all he requires, viz., the desired weight of size, which sticks well on the yarn, and appears to the uninitiated as if the cloth made from it were quite free from any sophistications ; but, unfortunately for the manufacturer, his supply of flour becomes exhausted, and he is forced to purchase more, andkpossibly he buys not pure flour, but flour adulterated with finely-ground rice ; he uses this mixture for his size, and the result is, to express it in his own words, he ' gets wrong. ' When the warp is undergoing the process of weaving, the China clay, not being fixed firmly by the adulterated flour, flies off, forming a cloud of dust in the weaving shed, and when the cloth is produced it is found not to be sufficiently heavy ; and not only so, but the uninitiated would be very apt to say that the fabric had been much sophisticated, because when shaken the sophistica- tion would reveal its presence by coming out in a cloud of dust. It is important, then, that the manufacturer should test each sample of flour which he buys, that he may be certain that he does not get an adulterated article. . . . Some manufacturers will take you into their confidence, and tell you that they have lately risen to such a state of perfection that they can put over 100 per cent, of size into their warp ; i.e., that they take one pound- weight of yarn, and, after passing it through their sizing machine and drying, it will weigh two pounds. Yet the men who carry on this manufacture are, as a rule, honest. They do not hide the fact that their goods contain a large quantity of size from the purchaser, and the merchant who buys them does so quite cognizant of the fact. I think I can give no more forcible idea of the importance of the sizing of cotton goods than the fact that, as a rule, more than the whole margin of the manufacturer's profit lies within the size used. They put size in cloth to sell it at a less price than that for which raw cotton can be bought ! The question is not without defence. The manufacturer will tell you openly that he would be very glad to dispense with heavy sizing, but the merchant says, ' I wish to buy from you cloth which contains a large quantity of size ; ' and so the manufacturer has no other alternative than to supply his customer with his wants, or give up business. We have now thrown SKE ( 316 ) SKTJ the onus of this apparently dishonest dealing on the head of the merchant, and we must now go a step further to hear what he has to say for himself. He will tell you that the natives in the countries to which he ships those goods make various pieces of clothing out of them, and they prefer to buy a cloth at a given price which has a full and good appearance (effects produced by judicious sizing) rather than pay the same amount for a cloth which is entirely composed of pure cotton, but through which the daylight would penetrate and show every thread of the fabric ; in fact, they have no objection to clothe themselves with a composition of flour, tallow, and China clay, to which a little cotton has been added to make it stick together. I am informed that, as a rule, they do not wash the cloth before wearing it, so that if some enterprising Lancashire manufacturer could hit upon the mode of making cloth without containing cotton at all, but composed only of size, he would no doubt be considered a benefactor to his poorer foreign brethren ; but, although many manufacturers have approached very closely to this acme of perfection, I have not heard of any whose genius has carried them to the desired end." This attempt at special pleading may be left to the judgment of those who read it. But if honesty is still to retain it ancient reputation as an excellent policy, then sizing, beyond its legitimate employment to give a necessary and valuable consistency to warp, is an indefensible wrong. All the sophistry in the world cannot gloss it over. So far from benefiting anybody beyond those who make money by practising it, a course so flagrantly dishonest cannot but damage our reputation and destroy our trade, besides causing the decay of commercial morality. (See Cloth and Worsted for instances of ancient usage in this particular. ) SKEIN, Skain. A number of threads in a knot, or a number of knots. (Fr. escaigne, W. ysgainc o edaf, a skein of thread, rhaff dair caine, a rope of three yarns ; Gall, sgeinnidh, flax or hemp, thread, twine, sgeinn, sgeinnidh, & skein. Wedgwood.) " Some for very nede Lay down a skain of threde, And some a skain of yarne." Skelton : The Tunning of Ely no ur Rwnmyng. " Our Style should be like a skein of silk, to be carried and found by the right thread, not ravelled or perplexed. Tben all is a knot, a heap." B. Jonson : Discoveries made upon Men and Matter. SKIRT. The part of the garment below the waist ; a woman's gar- ment like a petticoat ; the edge of any part of the dress, border, margin, extreme part. (Dan. skiorle, Ice. skyrta, an under garment; from root of Shirt.) Donald. SKUNK (fur). An animal of the weasel kind, which, like others of its class, is distinguished by being able to give forth a powerful and offensive odour when pursued. It is in size about as large as an average cat, but with a large bushy tail of about 12 to 15 inches in Length. The skins are imported by the Hudson's Bay Company. The animal from which it is obtained in allied to the polecat of Europe. The fur is a soft black, with two white stripes running from the head to the tail. SLE ( 317 ) SLE SLEAVE, or sleaved, sleided silk, raw untwisted silk, floss silk. u "When she weaved the sleided silk, With fingers long, small, white as milk." Shakespeare : Pericles. " Sleep that knits up the ravell'd sleave of care." Macbeth. Drayton particularly speaks of it as matted : " The bank with daffadillies dight, With grass, like sleave, was matted." Quest of Cynthia. " Thou idle, immaterial skein of sleive-silk." Troilus and Cressida. SLEEVE. From A. -S. slief, a sleeve ; Du. sloeve, a covering; Old Ger. slauf, clothing, that part of a garment which covers the arm, or, according to Wedgwood, A.-S. sly/, Frisian slief, a sleeve, what one slips the arm into, from Bavarian schlaiffen, to slip (as a bird does its head under its wing) ; schlauffen, to slip in or out ; auschlauffen, to slip on an article of dress ; Swabian auschliefen, ausschliefen, to slip on or off; einschlauf, the whole dress ; Swiss schlauf, a muff for slipping the hands into ; Provincial English slive, to put on hastily. " I'll slive on my gown and gang wi' thee." Craven Glossary. " Where her long-hoarded groat oft brings the maid, And secret slivesit in the sibyl's fist." Clabe. " I slyppe or slyde downe, je coule; I slyve downe, je coule." Palsgrave. Sleeves have at all times naturally formed a part of dress. The Anglo-Saxons principally wore them close fitting to the arm, but the ladies occasionally indulged in long sleeves, or wore them reaching only half-way between the elbow and the wrist. The Normans introduced several eccentricities in sleeves, wearing them so wide and long that they hung beyond the hand, and even as far as their knees when their arms dropped. In this extravagance the ladies of course followed, even improving upon it by making the sleeve, fitting the arm as far as the wrist, break off suddenly there into a loose flap often more than a yard in length. Knights wore upon their sleeves at this date coats of arms, a fashion known to students in heraldry as the Maunch, or heraldic sleeve, borne now as distinctive coats of arms by some ancient families. During the Plantagenet period sleeves were simple enough, save during the'reigu of Richard II., when the Monk of Evesham speaks of the deep wide sleeves, commonly called pokys, shaped like a bagpipe, and worn in- differently by servants as well as masters. They were denominated, he says, the devil's receptacles, for whatever could be stolen was popped into them. Some were so long and so wide that they reached to the feet, others to the knees, and were full of slits. As the servants were bringing up pottages, sauces, &c, their sleeves "would go into them and have the first taste ; " and all that they could procure was meant to clothe their uncurable carcasses with their pokys or sleeves, while the rest of their habit was short. Chaucer's Squire is shown as wearing " sleeves long and wide." Large sleeves were forbidden by a sumptuary law of Henry IV., as seems to have been necessary when we find Occleve, a contemporary poet, declaring his horror at seeing serving SLE ( 318 ) SLE men walk in scarlet robes twelve yards wide, with sleeves hanging to the ground, bordered or lined with fur to the value of twenty pounds or more. He asks how menials are to assist their masters if they should be suddenly assailed, when their " arms two have right enough to do, And somewhat more, their sleeves up to hold ;" and declares they have thus rendered themselves as unserviceable to their lords as women, and satirically declares what he considers to be their only utility in the words — " Now have these lords little need of hrooms To sweep away the filth out of the street, Since side sleeves of pennyless grooms Will it uplick, be it dry or wet." A pair of open sleeves valued at 10s. is included in an inventory of the effects of Henry V. During the reign of Henry VI. they became absurdly large, and, in addition to the hanging sleeves, were in some instances shaped like a bag, and in others ornamented with indented edges. In the reign of Edward IV. sleeves were worn large and open at the sides, so as to display the shirt beneath, which was loose and pro- jected from between the lacings of the opening. In other instances the sleeves were slit immediately above and beneath the elbow, with a narrow piece of cloth to cover it, the whole being held together by wide lacing, leaving some inches space between each portion of the sleeve, which is padded at the shoulders with wadding, to give a broad appearance to the chest. These sleeves were by a law of the third year of Edward's reign prohibited to be worn by any yeoman or person under that degree, under a penalty of six and eightpence, and twenty shillings fine for the tailor who manufactured them. (Fairholt.) During this and the following three reigns we commonly meet with sleeves, both long and full, having openings on the front to give the arm passage, as well as voluminous baggy sleeves fastened either at the elbow or wrist, the ladies borrowing the former mode of wearing the sleeve open from the elbow to the hand, saving only a partial union of the seam at certain distances, through which the under garment was puffed out. In the reign of Henry VIII. sleeves were worn at pleasure, either narrow or wide, or were altogether dispensed with. The particulars given of those worn by the "merry monarch" himself will beat show after what manner they were made. A Wardrobe Account made at the latter end of his reign enumerates "three pair of purple satin sleeves for women ; one pair of linen sleeves, paned with gold over the arm, quilted with black silk, and wrought with flowers between the panes and at the hands ; one pair of sleeves of purple gold tissue damask wire, each sleeve tied with aglets of gold ; one pair of crimosiu satin sleeves, four buttons of gold being set upon each sleeve, and in every button nine pearls;" as well as "a jerkin of purple velvet, with purple satin sleeves, embroidered all over with Venice gold (presented to the king a.d. 1535 by Sir Richard Cromwell) ; and another of crimson velvet, with wydo sleeves, of the like coloured satin." {MS. Hurl., 1410.) An account of the apparel left in the wardrobe of the king after his decease includes, "a pair of truncke sleeves of redde cloth of gold, SLE ( 319 ) SLE with cut-works, having twelve pair of aglets of gold," and welted with black velvet ; " a pair of French sleeves of green velvet, richly embroidered with flowers of damask gold, a pair of Morisco work, with knops of Venice gold, cordian raised, either sleeve having six small buttons of gold, and in every button a pearl, and the branches of the flowers set with pearles." The sleeves are also said in some instances to have had cuffs to them, and in others to have been ruffed — that is, ornamented with ruffs, or ruffles, at the hands. Sleeves were then removable at pleasure, as they appear to have been even as far back as the time of Chaucer, when in the Bomaunt of the Hose a gentleman because he is going into the country rises early to baste or sew on his sleeves, taking for the purpose a needle from his Aguyler or needle case. " A sylver nedyl forth I drowe, Out of an Aguyler queynt ynowe, And gan this nedyl threde anone ; For, out of towne me lyste to gone, And with a threde hastynge my sieves, Alone I went." A portrait of Elizabeth shows her with high pointed shoulders to her sleeves, a fashion which has been brought down to recent times, when women have placed little pillows of down or some light stuff upon their shoulders to accommodate their sleeves. It is also claimed that some such practice must have been common amongst the ancient Hebrews to justify the denunciation of the prophet Ezekiel, who says (xiii. 18) : "Woe to the women that sew pillows to all armholes and make kerchiefs upon the head of every stature." Stubbes, the vigorous and uncompromising satirist of Elizabeth's time, falls upon the various fashions in sleeves then followed. Some, he says, hang " down to the skirts trailing on the ground, and cast over their shoulders like cow- tails ; some have sleeves much shorter, cut up the arm, drawn out with sundry colours, and pointed with silk ribbands, and very gallantly tied with love-knotts, for so they call them." But it must be admitted that few traces of any such extravagances can be found, illustrations of the costumes of Elizabeth's time generally showing the sleeves very plaiu and close-fitting. Similarly, the sleeves of Charles I.'s time show a commendable simplicity, although we may judge from the dramatic pastoral entitled Rhodon and Iris, 1631, that occasional eccentricities came to the fore ; for the author, in a catalogue of the apparel of a fashionable lady, says that " Now doth she praise a sleeve that's long and wide, Yet hy and hy that fashion doth deride." The only noticeable alteration in sleeves of this date is that in the gar- ments of both sexes they only reached to the elbow, the ladies having the remainder of the arm bare, and the gentlemen displaying ample shirt sleeves with ruffled wrists. Folly by this time had in this particular quite exhausted itself. Sub- sequent mode3 show little variation in sleeves save in width, the range being between those of somewhat ample but yet reasonable width and those fitting close to the arm. Almost the only exceptions occurred " when George III. was king," when sleeves became a kind of wide- SLI ( 320 ) % SLO mouthed funnel of ruffles, or the more recent period when leg-of-mutton, or rather gigot, sleeves were for a short period rendered fashionable. SLIPPER. A light loose shoe, slipped on with ease. Slipshod, slipper-shod, careless, slovenly. SLOP, Slops. From slip ; literally denotes any kind of clothing easily slipped on. The word was long used particularly for trousers, as Bailey defines it : "A wide sort of breeches worn by seamen." Modern slang has, however, made it so comprehensive as to include all manner of garments, but particularly those sold ready made, and even more particularly a kind of blouse. Planche says the word slop has " at various times been applied to three distinct articles of apparel — a jacket or cassock, a shoe, and a pair of breeches." It has also indicated a night- gown, and, in Lancashire, a pocket. The Parson in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales inveighs not only against the sin in superfluity of clothing, but also against the "horrible disordinate scantiness of clothing as be these cut slops or hanselines." Hanselein is " the German diminutive of the familiar name ' Hans ' (Jack), and has, we imagine, been applied in a punning sense to the short or little jack which Froissart mentions at this time as a garment of German origin ; for he tells us that Henry, Duke of Lancaster, on his return to England, entered London in a courte Jacques of gold ' a la fachon d'Almayne.' The little jack or jaques was afterwards called jaquette by the French, and jacket by the English, as the shortened roc or tunic had been called roquetteand rocket previously. The epithet cut slop, also applied to it, shows that it was a shortened garment. Slops, we are told in the next century, are mourning coats or cassocks. The word here occurs for the first time that we are aware of, and seems to be derived from the German schleppe, which signifies anything trailing. (Schleppe hleid is ' a gown with a train.') These cut slops or hanseleins, therefore, evidently mean these shortened gowns or coats, or little jacks." (Knight's History of British Costume.) In the 15th century an order limiting the display of mourning allowed only sixteen yards to dukes and marquises for their gowns, slopps, or mantles, and twelve yards to earls ; and, at a banquet given in the first year of the reign of Henry VIII., Hall, the chronicler, speaks of six ladies who formed part of a show towards the close of the evening, two of whom were in garments of "crimosyn and purpull, made like long slops, embroidered and fretted with golde after the antique fascion, and over the slop was a shorte garment of clothe of golde, scant to the knee fascioned like a tabard." Jack of Newbury, the famous clothier of Henry VIII. 's time, is described as appearing before that monarch in a plain russet coat, a pair of white kersey slopps (plainly breeches) without welt or guard (lace or border), and stockings of the same piece sewed to his slopps. " What said Master Dombledon about the satin for my short cloak and slops ? " King Henry IV. "As a German from the waist downwards, all slops." Much Ado About Nothing. " Now to our rendezvous; three pounds in gold These slops contain." Ludowick Bakry: Ram Alley. " In a pair of pain'd (paned slops)." Ben Jonson : Cynthia's Bevels. SMA ( 321 ) SOC SMALL WARES is the name given in this country to textile articles of the tape kind, narrow bindings of cotton, linen, silk, or woollen fabric, plaited sash cord, braid, &c. (Ure.) " Narrow man being filled with little shares, Courts, City, Church, are all shops of small-wares ; All having blown to sparks their noble fire, And drawn their sound gold ingot into wire." Donne. SMOCK. From the Anglo-Saxon smoc, the undermost garment of women. Smock-faced was once a derisive epithet implying effeminacy, or more literally signified a pale or womanish complexion. See Chemise. SOCK. Lat. soccus, a kind of shoe ; Du. socke, a sock, woollen covering for the feet ; Prov. soc, a buskin, wooden shoe — soquier, a maker of sabots or wooden shoes ; Cat. sock, soc, clog ; Pied, soch, soca, socola, a clog or shoe with a wooden sole ; Ptg. socco, a wooden shoe, also, as Fr., socle, the base of a pedestal ; It. zoccolo, a clog ; Fr. socque, a sock, or sole of dirt cleaving to the bottom of the foot in a cloggy way. (Cotgrave.) Metaphorically Comedy ; a kind of light shoe formerly worn by actors of comedy. Thus Milton in L' Allegro says : " Then to the well-trod stage anon, If Jonson's learned sock be on." The socks of the Anglo-Saxons were worn over the stocking and within the shoe, apparently differing in nothing but material from those worn at the present time. "The pedules, or socks, were a part of the Saxon dress appropriated to the feet, as the Latin name plainly indicates ; and they are frequently mentioned by the writers of the 9th and 10th centuries. It has been thought that the pedules were that part of the stocking which received the feet, and not distinct from them ; and a quotation from an old author is given by Ducange to support this opinion, but, in proof of the contrary, a variety of authorities might be produced ; let one suffice : the pedules and the stockings are clearly mentioned as two distinct parts of the dress in the ancient Carthusian statutes.* The socks, I apprehend, were generally worn with the trousers, which did not cover the feet, and at times also with the stockings, especially by the clergy, who were obliged to officiate both by day and night in the churches. In the Saxon delineations, those especially which belong to 10th century, we find this part of the dress very frequently depicted. The sock usually rises a little above the ankle, and appears to be turned down towards the shoe, without being restrained by a garter or bandage. Different kinds of socks, ornamented with fringes or borders, are spoken of in the ancient records. The socks are said to have been made of woollen, and generally speaking they might be so ; but when they were adorned in the manner spoken of above it is probable they consist of some more precious materials. (Strutt.) Fustian appears to have been commonly employed for making socks in mediaeval times, the socks still possibly being worn for extra warmth * " Among other parts of their habit the monks are ordered to have two paria caligarum and three paria Dendulium" Du Canoe. SPE ( 322 ) SPI outside stockings. Edward IV. is charged threepence per pair for 11 four pare of sokks of fustian," and again for "sokkes of fustian" f ourpence the pair. In the Privy Purse Expenses of Elizabeth of York occur the following entries : " 1502. For ij yerdes of white fustyan for Sokkes for the Queen xiija. To William "Wurthy for a payre of hosyn by him bought for (the Queen's Foole) x d . For a payre of shoys vij a . For cloughting the same shoys iiij d , and for a payre of sokkes for the same fole ij d . To Thomas Humberston, hosyer, for the cloth and making of vij payre sokkes for the Queues grace at vjd. the pay ere." The " lower ends of stockings " appear in the Booh of Rates under Out- ward Rates at 6s. 8d. the dozen. In Lord William Howard's Household Books is an entry of " 2 pair of knitt socks for my Lady xvj d ."^, " The socctis was a slight kind of covering for the feet, whence the fashion and name of our socks are derived. The comedians wore these." Kennett: Boman Antiquities. " And be it said of thee, Shakespeare, thou hadst as smooth a comic vein, Fitting the sock, and in thy natural brain, As strong conception, and as clear a rage, As any one that traffic'd with the stage." Drayton : To Henry Berjnolds, Esq. " A physician that would be mystical prescribeth for the rheum to walk con- tinually upon a camomile alley ; meaning he should put camomile within his socks." Bacon. SPENCER. A short jacket, or body-coat, worn by both men and women, said to have been named after Lord Spencer, who meeting with an accident {temp. George III.) in hunting, by which his coat-tails were torn off, afterwards made the abbreviated garment fashionable. SPIN. To twist threads from a spindle, to make yarn (A.-S., Goth. spinnan, Teut. spinen, Dan. spinder). The preliminary process of spin- ning has already been described under Card ; the secondary stage will be found under Spindle, and some particulars of the machine which has revolutionized the whole manufacture, and multiplied production almost beyond comparison, will be found under Spinning Jenny. SPINDLE. Literally a splinter ; the pin from which the thread is spun or twisted ; a pin on which anything turns ; the fusee of a watch. (A.-S. spinel, spindel ; Ger. spindel, a spindle; schindel, a splint.) Donald. The spindle was made of a reed or some light wood, and was generally from eight to twelve inches in length. At the top was a slit or clasp for attaching the thread, so that the weight of the spindle might keep it stretched. The lower end was inserted in a whorl or wheel made of some heavy material, which served to keep it steady, and pro- mote its rotations. The spinner novr and then gave the spindle a fresh turn, so as to increase the twist of the thread. When the spindle touchtd the ground, " a length " was said to be spun, and the thread SPI ( 323 ) SPI ■was taken out of the slit and wound upon the spindle ; the upper part was then inserted in the slit, and a new length commenced. Tomlln- sox. " Closter, the son of Arachne, taught the first making of the spindle for "woollen yarne ; and Arachne herself was the first spinner of flax thred, the weaver of linen and nets." Holland : Plinie. " Sing to those that hold the vital sheers And turn the adamantine spindle round, On which the fate of gods and men is wound." Milton. " There are to speed their labours who prefer Wheels double spol'd, which yield to either hand A several line ; and many yet adhere To the ancient distaff at the bosom fix'd, Casting the whirling spindle as they walk." Dyer : The Fleece, 1757. SPINNING JENNY. Until about 250 years ago the rude method of spinning still employed in India was the only one known in this country. For some forty centuries nearly the same implements, worked in almost precisely the same manner, had been used without a thought of improve- ment. The distaff and spindle were then superseded by the spinning wheel. Still the spinner could only produce one thread at a time, and the most arduous toil could not reel off more than a pound of yarn in a day. Now 2,000 spindles, each revolving 4,000 times a minute, can be attended to by a single person. As the demand for cotton cloths in- creased, several efforts were made to facilitate the production of yarn, and in 1764 or 1767 James Hargreaves, a weaver, of Stand Hill, near Blackburn, produced the spinning jenny. As is the case with most other improvements in cotton machinery, this claim has been disputed, and a c@unter-claim set up on behalf of one Thomas Highs, of Leigh ; but the general concensus of opinion is in favour of Hargreaves, who, says Mr. Baines, must be regarded as one of the greatest inventors and improvers in the cotton manufacture. The idea of the jenny first occurred to him from seeing a one-thread wheel overturned upon the floor, when both the wheel and the spindle continued to revolve, The spindle was thus thrown from a horizontal into an upright position, and the thought seems to have struck him that if a number of spindles were placed upright, and side by side, several threads might be spun at once. He contrived a frame with eight spindles, which would thus produce eight threads at one time. For a time he kept his invention secret, and utilized it only for the pro- duction of yarn by himself and his family. But the fact soon being noised abroad, the shortsighted cry that increased production would restrict employment was raised, a mob broke into his house, destroyed his machine, and he suffered subsequently so much and such bitter persecu- tion that he was compelled to leave the place. In 1770 a patent was procured for the jenny, but upon attempting to afterwards defend it against infringement it was found that Hargreaves had, previous to this date, manufactured and openly sold similar machines, and in consequence the attorney engaged gave up the actions, despairing of procuring a verdict. Thus the invention was thrown open, and became generally adopted, without Hargreaves deriving any material benefit from it ; Y 2 SPI ( 324 ) STA although he did not share the common lot of unfortunate inventors and die in poverty. The original jenny of eight spindles had been doubled in power by the time the patent was taken out ; it quickly held from twenty to thirty spindles, and has even been made with as many as one hundred and twenty. (Baines.) The spinning jenny was subsequently improved upon and largely superseded by Crompton's Mule- jenny. SPINSTER. A woman who spins ; in legal phrase an unmarried woman, a connexion which is significant in showing how common a domestic avocation spinning once was. The name was, at a later date, applied to women of evil life, in that they were set to enforced labour of spinning in the Spittle, or House of Correction (it is still called 'The Spinning House' at Cambridge), and thus were - spinsters. (Trench : Select Glossary.) " Many would never be indicted spinsters, were they spinsters indeed, nor come to so public and shameful punishments, if painfully employed in that vocation." Fuller: Worthies of England. " Geta. These women are still troublesome ; There be houses provided for such wretched women, And some small rents to set ye a spinning. Drusilla. Sir, We are no spinsters ; nor, if you look upon us, So wretched as you take us." Beaumont and Fletcher : TJie Prophetess. SPOOL. A reel. SPOT. Literally something spit ; a small part of a different colour ; any particular place ; something that soils ; a stain upon character or reputation (akin to Spit and Spatter. ; Dutch spatten, to bespatter, spat, a drop of what is splashed). Donald. SPRAY. A sprig or small shoot of a tree ; the small branches collectively (A.-S. spree, Ice. sprek, a twig; OldGer. spraish, twigs — sprahhon, to cut). Lb. SPRIG. A small shoot or twig. SQUIRREL (fur.) Literally an animal with a shady tail, from the Low Latin sciuriolous, and that a diminitive of sciurius, Greek skiouros, a compound of sJcia, shade, and oura, tail. Bailey calls it " a sort of wood-weasel." The species, in several varieties, is common to all parts of the world except Australia, and large numbers of the skins, commercially known as Calabar, are brought into the market, and are frequently dyed to imitate sable. STAMIN. A very ancient cloth. According to Chaucer it was " a slight woollen stuff." Fairholt says it was " a worsted cloth of a coarse kind, manufactured in Norfolk in the 16th century ;" but we may believe that it was made there before that date. Halliwell gives it as 11 Linsey-woolsey cloth, a garment made of that material," and Todd's Johnson's Dictionary as "A slight sort of stuff; kind of woollen cloth. The name probably came from the French estamine, the original of another stuff, once well known, called Tammy, and the equivalent of STA ( 325 ) STA serge, and appears also to have been called Stanum or Stamfortis, for stamen forte, "which, I presume," says Strutt, "was a strong sort of cloth, and of a superior quality, which we find ranked with the brunetta and camelot." The manufacture appears to have been exclu- sively confined to the county of Norfolk. In the 12th year of Henry VII. an Act passed for taking apprentices to make worsted in the county of Norfolk, recites that ' ' the common weal and profit of the inhabitants of Norfolk have in times past been by the due making of worsteds, says, and stamyns, which occupation was like to decay by reason of the occupiers not having an apprentice unless his father should be worth land twenty shil- lings a year : and enacted that worsted manufacturers of Norfolk might take one or two (not more) of the children of any person to be apprentices. Stamines are again mentioned in an Act of the 25th year of Henry VIII., as made at several places in Norfolk, especially Norwich, Yarmouth, and Lynn. In an appraised inventory of goods, taken in the year 1500, black stamyn is set down at 2s. a yard, and tapestry for hangings at Is. a yard ; these prices ranged, it may be assumed, below the real value of the articles when new. ■ ' A tunic made from this stuff was estimated at fifteen shillings, and it appears to have been occasionally dyed red and green ; but both those colours were forbidden to the clergy." Strutt. " Wearing of here or of Stamin." Chaucer : Pers. Tale. STAMMEL. (Old French, estamel), a kind of fine worsted. Halliwell. A kind of woollen cloth, perhaps a corruption of stamin. Todd. The word is sometimes used as an adjective, invariably for a kind of red, and is believed by some to have been quite distinct from the stuff so called. But as stammel appears to have been also of a kind of red colour, it is quite likely that the adjective grew out of the noun, and that stammel colour was the colour common to stammel at all times. Stammel is charged at lis. 8d. the yard in Lord William Howard's Household Books. * ' A red stammel petticoat and a broad straw hat " are said to form part of the dress of a country haymaker in Delany's Pleasant History of Thomas of Beading. The following quotations need no explanation. " Some stamel weaver, or some butcher's son, That scrub' d alate within a sleeveless gown." TJie Return from Parnassus, 1606. "Is't not a misery, and the greatest of our age, to see a handsome, young, fair enough, and well-mounted wench humble herself, in an old stammel petti- coat, standing possest of no more fringe than the street can allow her." Beaumont and Fletcher : The Woman Hater, 1607. "I'll not quarrel with this gentleman For wearing stammel breeches." Ib. : Little French Lawyer. " But long they had not dane'd, till this yong maid, In a fresh stammell petticote aray'd, With vellure sieves, and bodies tied with points, Began to feele a looseness in her joynts." Time's Curtaine Draume, 1621. STA ( 326 ) * STA " She makes request for a gowne of the new-fashion stuffe, for a petticote of the finest stammel, or for a hat of the newest fashion." The Arraignment of lewd, idle, fr award, and inconstant Women, 1628. 11 Red-hood, the first that doth appear In stammel — scarlet is too dear." Bex Joxson : Jove's Welcome. 11 They (the Janizaries) have yeerly given them two gowns apiece, the one of violet cloth, and the other of stammel, which they wearein the city." Saxdys : Travels. " When I translated my stammel petticoat into the masculine gender, to make your worship a paire of scarlet breeches." Randolph : Hey for Honesty, 1651. STAPLE. At present the goods principally produced in or dis- tributed by any place or district ; formerly the place to which the goods were brought to be vended. From A.-S. stapel, a prop or stay, the hold of anything ; * Ger. stapel. a heap, a mart. " "We shall here observe that the English word Staple is, in the Civil law Latin, still of those times termed Stabile Emporium, that is, a fixed port or mart for the importing of merchandise. From whence, probably, the con- tracted word staple, used with some small variation of the orthography all over Europe, had its derivation." Axdersox. The history of the Staple, which originally in this country appears to have indicated the place where certain dutiable goods were com- pelled to be brought for charge before they could be sold or exported, occupies an important part in the history of our early foreign commerce. The changes which it underwent often incorporate not only mercantile, but political history, and illustrate alike the gradual development of our resources and the freedom of our trade. The word came afterwards to denote a wholesale market, whither large traders resorted for vending goods by "the great," as it was termed. It was " a place where large immunities and privileges are granted to all merchants of what nation soever ; sometimes extending to native commodities only, and some- times to forraigne, and sometimes to both, with free liberty to export and import all manner of wares, custome free, when, whither, and by whom they please, paying a small acknowledgement only in lieu of the custome to the prince." The Treasure of Traffike, 1641. The article on which duties were first levied appears to have been wool, wool-fels (sheep-skins) and leather. These were staple goods ; those who exported or dealt in them were Merchants of the Staple, and formed an incorporated or recognized society at least as early as the reign of Edward IT. Hakluyt has printed a charter granted by Edward II. the 20th of May, 1313, to the mayor and council of the Merchants of the Staple, in which he ordains that all mer- chants, whether natives or foreigners, buying any wool or wool-fels in his dominions for exportation, should, instead of carrying them for sale, as they had been wont to do, to several places in Brabant, Flanders, and Artois, carry them in future only to one certain staple in one of those countries to be appointed by the said mayor and council. Antwerp * Whence the hold of a door is Btill called a staple. STA ( 327 ) STA first, then for a short time St. Omers, and afterwards Antwerp again, was fixed upon as the staple at this time. A few years later, in 1326, the staple was altogether removed from the Continent and confined to several English towns, of which Cardiff in Wales is the only name mentioned. Again, in 1328, Edward III. enacted "that the staples beyond the sea, and on this side, ordained by kings in times past, and the pains thereupon provided, should cease, and that all merchants- strangers, and privy (aliens) may go and come with their merchandizes into England, after the tenor of the Great Charter ; " but four years later staples of English goods were fixed to be held in towns within the kingdom, to be again abolished in 1334, and appointed anew at Bruges in 1341, and at Calais in 1348. In 1353, Edward III. being dis- pleased with the Flemings because the match between the young Earl and his daughter was broken off, withdrew the staple of wool, and, by Act of Parliament, removed it from the town of Bruges (where it had mean- while been fixed) to the following English ones — Westminster, Canter- bury, Chichester, Exeter, Winchester, Bristol, Lincoln, York, Norwich, Newcastle, and Hull, for England ; and to Dublin, Cork, Waterford, and Drogheda, for Ireland. It is called " the Statute of the Staple " (27 Edward III.), and it further enacts "that all staple wares intended to be exported shall first be brought to some of the above-named places only, where the customs shall be paid, and then they shall be exported by merchant-strangers only, and not by the King's subjects, who were to take an oath not to hold any staple thereof beyond sea." (Anderson.) The statute was to last " for ever," but only continued in force ten years, when Calais appears to have again been appointed the staple, until, in 1369 it was again fixed in English towns, only to be once more removed to Calais in 1376. In 1378 it was enacted that all merchants of Genoa, Venice, Catalonia, and Arragon, and other countries toward the West, that would bring their vessels to Southampton or elsewhere within the realm, might there freely sell their goods, and also recharge their vessels with wools and other merchandises of the staple, on payment of the same duties as were payable at Calais, and in 1382 all merchants, foreigners or natives, were permitted to carry wool, wool-fels, and leather to any country whatever except France, on payment beforehand of the Calais duties. In 1384 the staple at Calais was discontinued in favour of Middle- burgh, but was again fixed at Calais in 1 388, only to be brought back two years later to the towns at which it had been fixed in 1353, which were in the following year abolished in favour of such other coast towns as the Lords of the Council should direct. It would even appear that, at least for a portion of the year 1390, Calais was still a staple for some goods, although it is a matter of doubt whether the English towns were suspended at the time in its favour. Calais, at any rate, in 1398 remained the onty staple, and there, upheld by numerous and repeated statutes, it continued to be held, until in 1538 it was recovered by the French, when, shorn of all its ancient and fickle glory, the staple was fixed at Bruges. " Staples and restraints in England," says Macpherson, ' ' and a second staple and other restraints at the same time on the Continent ! The condition of the merchants who were obliged to deal in staple goods was truly pitiable in those days of perpetual changes." " Staple ; a city or town, where merchants jointly lay up their commodities for the better uttering of them by the great ; a public storehouse." Phillips : Xete World of Wordes. STA ( 328 ) STO STAYS. From stay, to stand, literally supports. A custom com- menced by the Normans and continued in spite of all censure, persuasion, or ridicule, in spite of deterrent doctors or caustic satirists, until the present day, when they are, as in the time of Elizabeth, universal among one sex and not infrequent among the other.. STOCKINGS. Close covering for the legs, conjectured to have been derived from covering the stocks or stumps. Tooke derives the word from the Anglo-Saxon stican, to stick, and says it is "corruptly written for stocken, i.e., stoh, with the addition of the participle termination en, because it was stuck or made with sticking-pins, now called knitting- needles." The early history of stockings has been already shown under Hose, where is also indicated the time at which stockings came out, and were separate from hose. The inventory of the effects of Anne Nycolson, of Kirby, Kendall, shows the distinction very plainly. First, we have " a paire of hoose and shone xvj d ," then "a pair of hoose and pair of stokks of hose, and a cap." The accounts of the wardrobe of Henry VIII. contain also two very significant items, ' ' A yarde and a quarter of green velvet for stocks to a payr of hose for the King's grace ; " "a yarde and a quarter of purpul satin to cover the stocks of a payr of hose of purpul cloth of gold tissue for the Kynge." They were sometimes termed "stickings of hose," that is, adding continuations to the trunk hose then fashionable, but are more frequently styled "nether" stocks, the breeches appearing as " upper" or " over " stocks. The name gave opportunities to the dramatists of the period to make punning allusions to the stocks in which evil-doers were frequently set for punishment. Thus Shakespeare in King Lear, 11 When a man is over-lusty at legs, then he wears wooden nether-stocks." And Hey wood, in his Epigrams : " The upper stocks, be they stuff with silk or flocks, Never become thee like a nether pair of stocks." These nether stocks early gave occasion of display. Thynne's poetical Debate between Pride and Loichncss, typified under the form of a pair of cloth breeches of homely form, and a pair of newly-fashioned velvet ones, shows the former made only 11 of cloth, withouten pride And stitche, nor gard upon them was to siene ; Of cloth, I say, both upper stock and neather, Paned, and single lined next to the thie ; Light for the wear, meet for all sort of weather ; " while the other " was of velvet fine ; The neather stocks of pure Granada Mike, Such as came never upon leg^es of myne, Their coller clear contrary unto mylke. This breech was paned in the fairest wise, A n applied to tissue paper by a coat of zinc, made by boiling the cuttings of hare-skins, and adding a little alum to the gelatinous solution. When two laps are glued with their faces together, they form the most downy kind of wadding. Ure. " And o'er the seat with plenteous wadding stuff 'd, Indued a splendid cover, green and blue, Yellow and red, of tap'stry richly wrought, And woven close, in needlework sublime." Cowper : The Task. WADMOL. A coarse cloth which appears in ancient literature under a wide variety of orthography. The origin of the word has been the subject of several guesses : from the Saxon veod, grass, hay, weed, and mele, any hollow contanent, as a collar stuffed with hay or straw, the stuff being frequently used to cover the collars of horses, from the Icelandic vadur, a rope or any kind of coarse hemp, and mel, to beat or mall (Kennett) ; or of "vad, textum, and mal s mensuratum vel mensurandum (Yekel). It is frequently mentioned in The Pirate, and also occurs in The Monastery. Jamieson says that it was ' ' a coarse cloth made in the Orkneys ;" but it was not particular to those islands, being known under the name of "Woadmel or Wodnenell in the Midland and Eastern counties of England, and in Pontoppidan's History of Norway is, as Yadmel, said to be largely made and worn by the lower orders in that country. It seems to have been uniformly very coarse. Phillips, in his dictionary of 1720, describes it as " a coarse sort of stuff used for covering the collars of cart-horses." Kay as " a heavy coarse stuff made of Iceland wool, and brought thence by our seamen to Nor- folk and Suffolk ;" and Webster as " a coarse hairy stuff made of Ice- land wool, used to line the ports of ships of war." Jamieson says it was often twilled, being also denominated Skaktvadmal, which has that significance. It was used, when dyed "blue and murrey," in the furnish- ing of the barge of Elizabeth of York, but it was generally employed in the dresses of the poor. The Libel of English Policy, written about 1436 or 1437, and printed in Hakluyt's Collections, includes wadmel amongst exports from Spain. Stow says that a part of Founders' Hall in Coleman Street had, in his time, been " lately employed as a market house for the sale of woollen bays, watmols, flannels, and such like;" and Strutt says that poor people in the 15th and 16th centuries wore doublets and coats of frieze, wadmol, and other coarse cloths. It was afterwards employed for making gaiters, or buskins, and in the time of Charles II. for waistcoats, when it appears in the Booh of Bates at 9s. the yard under "Rates Inwards" and at 4s. the yard under " Rates Outwards." " The old man and woman are just in the style of their forefathers. As they are sprung from the Norwegians, they still continue to wear good strong black clothes without dying, called by the ancient Norse Vadmell, and by them wrought in a loom called Upstagang ; but now wrought in the common manner." P. Birsay : Orhn. Statist. " But those English that had suck'd in none of the Sweets of this pleasant Stream of Bounty, repined to see the Scotch advanced from Blue Bonnets to costly Beavers, wearing instead of Wadmeal Velvet and Satin, as clivers Pas- quils written in that Age Satirically taunted at." Bacon : Llist. Eng. WAL ( 365 ) WEA WALE. A ridge on the surface of cloth, having a similar origin with wale or wheal, a mark raised upon the skin by a blow. "WARP (A.-S. wearp, Ice. varp), the threads arranged lengthwise in a loom, into which the woof is woven. WATERED Stuffs. Those which have been subjected to a process by which the surface assumes a variety of shades, as if the cloth were covered with a multitude of waving and intersecting lines. This effect is thus produced : The piece, of web, of cloth is folded, from one end to the other, in triangular folds, without attending to regularity ; and being thus reduced to a comparatively small length, it is put upon a roller and rolled under a calender of very great weight. When taken out, the strong threads of the weft are found to have impressed lines upon both surfaces, which are variously waved, in consequence of the foldings above described. As it is only intended to have one side waved, the web is made up for the press with pasteboards between each second fold, so as to allow one side of the web to be wholly without the paste- boards. The web is then hot-pressed, and that side which was covered with pasteboard comes out glazed, while the other remains watered. When it is wanted to be creased, it is folded, in the first instance, selvage to selvage. The term comes from the old French onder, which (from onde, a wave of the sea) was metaphorically applied, like the English wave, to denote any undulating line. The French speak of la moire ondee, which our manufacturers have chosen to call Watered Moreen. Tabby (French tabis, — tafetas onde) is a silk stuff waved in a similar manner. To Tabby is another expression for "to water," and the adjective Tabby, usually referring to a brindled cat, signifies streaked with waving lines. (Booth.) WATER FRAME. Arkwright's first spinning frame, which, in con- junction with Need and Strutt, his partners, was originally employed in a mill on the Derwent, at Cromford, in Derbyshire. ''This was the first water-spinning mill ever erected, and the parent of that great factory system which has contributed so much to the fame of England in the arts of peace. The fact that the machines were moved by water power led to their being called water-spinning machines, and the yarn pro- duced was known as water-twist." (Bkemner.) WEAVIXG (A.-S. we/an, to weave or fold about ; wcefre, a weaver is literally a waving or twining of threads together so as to form cloth. Pliny gives the honour of the invention of weaving to the Egyptians, but its origin is really unknown, and was certainly prehistoric. The Egyptians undoubtedly attained wonderful excellence in weaving. Many Biblical references prove the Hebrews to have been equally facile, and Persia, Babylon, and other ancient nations likewise earned fame in this particular. In our own country the Anglo-Saxons were thoroughly acquainted with the making of cloth, and the weavers of London (anciently denominated Telarii) form probably the most ancient guild of the City. (See Cloth.) Their occupation gives rise to several WEB ( 36Q ) WHA surnames — Webber, Webb, Webster, webb signifying in Anglo-Saxon a cloth, that which was woven. " My wife was a webbe And wollen cloth made." Piebs Plowman. WEBBING. A narrow woven fabric. WEED. A garment, dress. Almost obsolete, save in its retention to describe the mourning dress of a widow. (A.-S. woed, clothing.) '• A goodlie ladie clad in hunter's weed." Faerie Queene. " The snake throws her enamelled skin, Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in." Shakespeare. " Throngs of knights and barons bold, In weeds of peace high triumphs hold, With store of ladies." Milton : i' Allegro. WEFT. (Fr. trame, Ger. eintrag.) Threads woven into the woof, running from selvage to selvage in a web. WEIGHTING or loading is to silk what sizing is to cotton. (See Sizing.) WHALEBONE. (Fr. balei?ie, It., Sp. balena, Port, barba de balm, Du. balein, Ger. ivallftschen, Da. . Jiskebeen, Sw. avalben.) Whalebone bore anciently a very high price, when the rigid stays and the expanded hoops of our grandmothers produced an extensive demand for this commodity. The Dutch have occasionally obtained £700 per ton, and were accustomed to draw £100,000 annually from England for this one article.* Even in 1763 it brought £500, but soon fell, and has never risen again to the same value. During the present century the price has varied between £60 and £300, seldom falling to the lowest rate, and rarely exceeding £150. Mr. Scoresby reckons the price, in the five years ending with 1818, at £90 , while at present (April, 1834) it is stated to be from £130 to £145. This is for what is called the size bone, or such pieces as measure 6 feet or upwards in length ; those below this standard are usually sold at half-price. It may appear singular that whalebone should rise, while oil has been so decidedly lowered ; but the one change, it is obvious, causes the other. Oil, being the main product of the fishery, regulates its extent ; which being diminished by the low price, the quantity of whalebone is lessened, while the demand for it continuing as great as before the value consequently rises. {Polar Seas and Regions, Edin. Cab. Lib.) It may be worth while to remark, as evincing the ignorance that at one time prevailed with respect to the whale, that, by an old feudal law, the tail of all whales belonged to the queen, as a perquisite, to furnish her Majesty's wardrobe with whalebone! [Blackstone.) McCulloch. A whale 16 feet long is provided with 600 pieces of whalebone, to form a strainer in its mouth, so that the small fish on which it feeds may not escape. The largest of these pieces are about 12 feet long, * Six yards of whalebone cost 12d. in 1612. WHI ( 367 ) WOO and the whole of them average seven pounds each, thus giving over If tons of whalebone, worth about £160 per ton. Besides its usual employment, whalebone in slender strips is employed in covering whip or walking-stick handles, and telescopes, and is even sometimes plaited like straw in forming hats and bonnets. Finer shavings are used in stuffing cushions. WHITTLES. (A.-S. hwitel, a ivhite cloak.) A kind of fringed shawl or square, originally white. WILDB0RE3. A stout unglazed tammy, once much in request. WIMPLE. A veil whirled, or folded round the neck and face ; a flag. (Old Ger. ivimpel, a veil, tvimpel, a streamer ; Fr. guimpe ; allied to ivimble, to whirl.) Donald. " The mantles, the wimples, and the crisping pins." Isaiah iii. 22. WO AD. (A..-S. load.) Isatis tinctoria, a dye largely employed in the Middle Ages. The plant is still grown in this country, but only to a small extent, the introduction of indigo having almost entirely forced it out of cultivation, not without some vigorous and at times successful opposition from the woad growers. WOOL. (A.-S. ivol, Fr. laine, It., Sp. lana, Port, lao, Ger. wolle, Du. wol, Da. tdd, Sw., Old Norse, idl, Frisian, iville, Finnish, Gaelic, olana, Welsh gwlan, Russ. wolna, Lithuanian, ivilna, wool, Lat. villus, a lock, vellus, a fleece.) It would be idle to attempt to determine the vexed and trifling question of precedence between wool and flax, or to attempt to determine whether the honours of first manufacturing wool belongs to the Greeks or Egyptians, for both of which nations it; has been claimed. It is sufficient to know that wool has been in use for clothing from a prehistoric period, for wherever traces of man are found there we are almost sure to find the remains of sheep : among the interesting relics of the lake-dwellers have been found fragments of woven woollen cloth, and the barrows of the early Britons have like- wise contained bodies wrapped in woollen cloths, the cloth frequently not being woven, but simply plaited. From this time downwards until the rise of the cotton manufacture, wool has been the staple of English commerce, and has contributed mainly to her prosperity and splendour. " That wool is eminently the foundation of the English riches," wrote Sir Joshua Child, "I have not heard it denied by any." The first actual mention of the sheep occurs in a document of the year 712, where the price of the animal is stated to have been fixed at Is. until a fortnight after Easter. Alfred's mother is described as being par- ticularly skilful in the spinning of wool; and later Edward I., being solicitous as to his children's education " settle his sons to schole, and his daughters he set to woll-werke." An Act to regulate the dyeing and sale of woollen cloths had been passed in 1197, and indirect evidence of the trade in wool at that time is afforded by that fact that in the two previous years the duty on imported woad (which was but a trifling pro- portion of the whole quantity used for dyeing cloths) amounted to over ninety-six pounds. In the historic chronicles of Matthew of Westminster it is said that all the nations of the world were at this time kept warm by WOO ( 368 ) WOO English wcol, and the weavers' patent of incorporation of 1189, by pro- hibiting the mixing of Spanish and English wools, shows which of the two was considered an adulterant. In the time of Edward I. the pro- duction of and trade in wool had largely increased, so that the nobles, in a petition dated 1279, asserted that the wool produced in England, and mostly exported to Flanders, was nearly equal to half the land in value ; and Edward himself was enabled, out of the customs on wools, to present to his son-in-law, John, Duke of Brabant, a sum of four thousand pounds. These customs duties are set forth in an Act of 34 Edward I., but in a manner implying a curtailment of former privileges, as it was provided that no officer of the King should thenceforth take maletoll from sacks of wool, or take any corn, wool, leather, or other goods without the consent of the owner. The Statute Book in the time of Edward III. shows conclusively the energy displayed by " the father of English commerce " in maintaining and promoting the trade in wool. He prohibited the export of wool and made it felony (27 Edw. III., c. 12 ; 38 Edw. III., c. 2),* fixed the standard of weight at 26 stones of 14 lbs. each to the sack, and com- manded all wool to be brought to the staple (31 Edw. HI., c. S), and would not allow the export of home-manufactured wool before fulling (50 Edw. III., c. 7). He also exacted a subsidy of every ninth sheaf, lamb, and fleece, and a subsidy of 40s. on every sack of wool and on every 300 wool-fels exported ; but the prohibition itself, in process of time, was frequently eluded by the merchant, who caused great quantities of wool to be spun into yarn, and exported it in that con- dition. This practice occasioned the Act of the 50th year of Edward III. to include a clause forbidding the exportation of woollen yarn under the penalty of forfeiture. The prohibition of wool was soon raised, and was indeed but a political expedient, the duties on wool and wool-fells (skins) being then and for long afterwards the best branch of: the revenues of the crown, affording Edward particularly a ready means of raising money to maintain his quarrels, as when the ninths could not be collected speedily enough he commuted them for 20,000 sacks of wool, which might be readily collected and disposed of. But when he arrived in Brabant he sent back loud complaints that instead of 20,000 there were yet no more than 2,500 arrived at Antwerp, although he was then in dire need of the remainder. He commanded therefore that the wool collectors should "seize on as much wool, wherever they can find it, as will make up the remaining quantity, either from laity or clergy, and to send it forthwith to Antwerp." The usual customs at that time consisted of 40s. per sack, and each sack was worth from five to six pounds. In 1354 the export amounted to nearly thirty-two thousand sacks. In the 13th year of Richard II., the exportation of wool was forbidden to the King's natural subjects and confined only to certain foreigners. The consequence of this was that the stock of wool accumulated, and its price fell, so that great murmur- ings arose, which occasioned the opening of the export trade as before. However, serious damage had been caused : Spanish wools came into repute, and the British produce did not again recover its former price. The export w r as again restricted in favour of Calais in 1416, excepting * Subsequently renewed by 12, 13, and 11 of Charles II- WOO ( 369 ) WOO such as was shipped by merchants of Genoa, Venice, Tuscany, Lom- bardy, Florence, and Catalonia, or by the burgesses of the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed. Henry VI. in 1425 re-enforced a law of Edward III., which forbade the export of live rams or sheep, as did Elizabeth subsequently, although presents of Cotswold rams were made by Edward IV. in 1464 to Henry of Castille, and in 1468 to John of Aragon. It appears, however, that English wool still maintained its supremacy, and on this point the old poem, reprinted by Hakluyt, The Libel of English Policie, is conclusive enough ; for although it is stated that the Flemings obtained the greater portion of their wool from Spain, yet they could not make good cloth wholly of Spanish wool, but were obliged to mix that with English. " But Flemings, if ye be not wroth The great substance of your cloth at the full Yee wot ye make it of our English woll." The proper packing of wool formed the subject of several statutes. The Statute of the Staple of 1353 provided that the selling merchant should warrant packing, although this was repealed in the following year. In 1390 the practice of buying wool by the words good packing was forbidden, and in 1429 an Act directed that wool for export was not to be forced, clacked or bearded, nor mixed with locks, pelt- wool, sand, clay, or other weigh tmakers. This latter deceitful practice was again found to require penalties to check it in 1531. One of the most notable of such statutes (1 Rich. III.) provided that all wool sold to strangers should be uncleansed from locks or refuse, and only in that state in which it was shorn, because, so the pre- amble states, it had been customary for foreign merchants in their purchases of wool to procure it sorted and picked, and to leave the locks and other refuse, by reason of which there had come to be no manufacture of fine drapery in England. An Act of the 22nd of Henry VIII. shows the spirit of commercial legislation at that time, and affords curious particulars of the trade of that day. " Whereas at a parlyament holden at Westmynster in the iiij yere of Kynge Henry VII. it was enacted that nopersone by hymselfe nor by any other shulde bye or take promyse or bargayne from the f yrste daye of Marche the yere of our Lorde MCCCCLXXXIV of any wolles unshorne of the growyng of Barke- shyre Oxfordshyre Gloucestershyre Herefordshyre Shropshyre Worcestershyre Essex Wyltshyre Somersetshyre Dorsetshyre Hampshyre Hertfordshyre Cam- bridgeshyre, Norfolke Kent Surry or Sussex before the feast of the assumpcyon of oure lady next after the sherynge of the said wolles but they that shulde do to be made yarne or clothys of the same wollys in thys realme uppon payne of forfeture of the doble value of the sayde wollys nor that no marchaunt straunger should bye any wolles before the feaste of the puryfycacyon of our lady next after the sherynge of the same upon syke payne, and that no woll packer shulde bye any woll for any marchaunte straunger after the sayde fyrste day of Marche upon pain of forfeiture." therefore all these stipulations to prevent anything like fair trading were to be renewed with fresh force. The cultivation of sheep now appeared to be assuming portentous dimensions. In 1489 the practice of making large farms had been * Cutting off the sheep's mark by which it weighs less and yields less custom. Bailey. B B WOO ( 370 ) WOO thought to " breed a decay of people," and now in 1534 a law made 11 Represents the custom of engrossing great nnmhers of sheep in one man's hands, for that end keeping many farms in the same hands, as a practice which has been hut within a few years past ; putting such lands as they can get into pasture, and not to tillage ; whereby they not only pulled down churches and towns, and enhanced the old rates of rents, or else brought them to such excessive fines that no poor man is able to meddle with them, but also have enhanced the prices of all manner of corn, cattle, wool, pigs, geese, hens, chickens, eggs, etc., by reason whereof a marvellous multitude of people be not able to provide meat, cloathes, etc., for themselves and families. One of the greatest occasions why those greedy and covetous people do keep such quanti- ties of land in their hands from the occupying of the poor husbandmen, and do use it in pasture and not in tillage, is only the great profit that cometh from sheep, now got into few persons hands, in respect of the whole number of the King's subjects ; so that some have 24,000, some 20,000, some from 10,000 to 5,000 sheep, whereby a good sheep that used to be sold for 2s. 4d. to 3s. at most is now sold for 6s. or 5s. or 4s. at least, and a stone of wool which used to be sold for Is. 6d. or Is. 8d., is now sold for 4s. or 3s. 4d. at least. Which things tend to the decay of hospitality, the diminishing of the people, and to the let (hindrance) of cloth making, whereby many poor people have been accustomed to be set on work. For remedy it was in substance enacted (I.) That no man shall keep above 2,400 sheep, exclusive of lambs, at any one time, unless it be on his own lands or inheritance, in which he is not hereby limited nor are spiritual persons. (II.) No man shall hold above two farms, in the parish of one of which two he shall be obliged to live and reside himself." (Anderson.) "With the recapitulation of the provisions of another Act a complete and trustworthy picture of the whole traffic in wool during its greatest prosperity will have been given. Formerly the manufacture of cloth for sale was exclusively confined to cities and corporate and market towns, the inhabitants of the villages and hamlets making little more than sufficed for the use of their respective families. But a numerous body of men gradually rose into importance who resided out of the towns, — u foreigners " as they are termed in the statutes, or, " persons dwelling in the small towns of husbandry." Many of them were husbandmen and graziers who made their own wool into cloth with the assistance of their wives and families. The sorting of wool was performed by women. The cloths made out of the towns were generally of a coarse description ; and, if we may believe various authorities, the country clothiers were not very strict in maintaining the assize which tixed the length and breadth of each piece. The condition of some of these manufacturers was humble enough. Many of them were only enabled to buy their wool in small quantities (as eight pennyworth and twelve pennyworth at a time), and therefore could not make their purchases of the wool grower. A statute, passed in 1551-2, which prohibited wool being bought except by the persons intending to use it themselves in the manufacture of cloth, did away with the inter- mediate dealers in wool, whose existence was of essential importance to the small clothiers ; but it was eventually found necessary to make some relaxations on their account, so that wool might be bought by dealers and sold again in the open market. The clothiers of Halifax were relieved from this inconvenience in 1555, by an Act enabling the inhabitants of that town to buy wool, and retail it to poor folk to work, but not to the rich or wealthy, nor to sell again. The preamble WOO ( 371 ) WOO of this statute describes with considerable minuteness the circumstances of the humbler class of country clothiers, and supplies details of some interest of the manner in which they carried on their trade. It recites that "the parish of Halifax and other places thereunto adjoining, being planted in the great wastes and moors, where the fertility of the ground is not apt to bring forth any corn or good grass, but in rare places, and by exceeding and great industry of the inhabitants ; and the same inhabitants do altogether live by cloth-making, and great part of them neither getteth corn, nor is able to keep a horse to carry wool, nor yet to buy much wool at once, but hath ever used only to repair to the town of Halifax, and some nigh thereunto, and there to buy upon the wool-driver, some a stone, some two, and some three or four according to their ability and to carry the same to their houses some three, four, five, and six miles off, upon their heads and backs, and so to make and convert the same either into yarn or cloth, and so to buy more wool of the wool driver ; by means of which industry the barren grounds in those parts be now much inhabited, and about five hundred households there newly increased within the forty years past, which are now likely to be undone and driven to beggary by reason of the late statute made that taketh away the wool dealer, so that they cannot now have their wool by such small portions as they were wont to have." (Dodd.) This domestic method of manufacture continued in use— with certain modifications corresponding to the development of machinery — until the present century. Not only were small weavers fostered by this subdivided trade, but the wholesale dealer was led to adopt it, so that the warehouse was the centre of a widely-ramified system. To secure the wool, journeys on horseback were made to all the consider- able fairs or markets. After being rigorously sorted, the wool was then given out, through agents residing in villages, often very remote, to be spun, and afterwards was again distributed to scattered weavers to be made and returned in piece-goods. The wool trade has from a very early period enjoyed a monotony of continued prosperity. Davenant, in 1697, estimated that 12 millions of fleeces, at an average value of 3s. 4d. per fleece, were annually shorn. In 1833 this had risen to 32 millions of sheep, and the present production of wool is computed to exceed 156 millions of pounds. Even the introduction of cotton, although it must have checked this trade, did not stop the continued advance in the quantity of wool worked up. The prohibition of the export of wool continued in force un- qualified until 1825, causing an enormous contraband trade in the article, and the lowering of the price at home. Until 1802 the importation of foreign wool into this country was permitted without duty : the import was then rapidly mounting, but on the demand of wool growers a duty of 5s. 3d. per cwt. was laid in 1802 on imported wool, and this was in- creased, until in 1819 it had risen to 56s. per cwt. Subsequently the duty was reduced to Id. per lb., then to ^d., and in 1844 was finally abolished. The following figures represent, according to Mr. Bevan, the present position of the woollen trade : V, B 2 Spindles. Powerlooms. Operatives. 3,337,607 .. 83,702 . 2,096,820 . . 56,944 ... . 2,110 ... ,. 87,393 ... 134,344 5,079 130,925 WOR ( 372 ) WOR Factories. Woollen 1,732 ... Shoddy 137 ... Worsted 693 .. Wool is commercially divided into ten qualities, as follows : The first and finest quality is called picklocks ; second, prime ; third, choice ; fourth, super. These are wools of the best kinds ; while the remainder are inferior, and have the following designations, viz. : fifth, head wool, or the chief of the inferior division ; sixth, the downrights ; seventh, seconds, which is that grown on the throat and breast ; eighth, an inferior kind to the last, called abb ; ninth, livery, the long coarse wool about the belly ; and tenth, short coarse, from the breast of the animal. WORCESTERS. Worcester and Bath early acquired the celebrity which West of England cloths still maintain. Of the monks at Bath Abbey we are told by a late writer, " that the shuttle and the loom employed their attention (about the middle of the 14th century), and under their active auspices the weaving of woollen cloth (which made its appearance in England about the year 1330, and received the sanction of an Act of Parliament in 1337) was in- troduced, established, and brought to such perfection at Bath as rendered this city one of the most considerable in the West of England for this manufacture. " Worcester cloth was so good that, by a chapter of the Benedictine Order, held in 1422 at Westminster Abbey, it was forbidden to be worn by the monks, and declared smart enough for military men. (Dr. Rock.) The cloth is fully described in an Act of 1551-2, which regulated its manufacture. " All and everie white clothe and clothes whiche shalbe made within the Cittie of Worcester comonlye called Longe (Worcester) and all like clothes of like makinge made within the Cittie of Coventry or elsewhere, shall conteyne in lengthe beinge wett as ys aforesaide betwixt xxix''" and one and thirtie yardes the pece, and to everie yarde one ynche of the standard, and shalbe of the bredith above specified thoroughe out and by all the lengthe of the whole clothe, and lysted as hathe bene accustumed, and beinge well scoured thicked mylled and fully dried shall waye fourscore fower pounde the pece at the lest : And that all colored Clothes made in the saide Cittie of Coventrie and Wor- cester or elsewhere of like makinge shall conteyne and be of lyke lengthe and bredith as is laste afore mencioned, and be listed as ys aforesaide, and being well scoured thicked and fullye dried, shall waye fourscore pounde the pece at the lest : And that all and everie white clothe and clothes comonlye called Shorte Worcesters whiche shalbe made within the saide Cittie or Countie or elsewhere, of the same sorte, shall conteyne in lengthe beinge wet betwixt xxiij and twentie-five yards, yarde and ynche of the Rule, and shalbe of the bredith as ys aforesaide thoroughout and by all the hole Clothe, and lysted accordinge to the auncyent custome, and beinge well scowred thicked and fullye dried shall waye threscore pounde the pece at the lest." In 1534 a complaint was directed to the House of Commons by the inhabitants of Worcester, Evesham, Droitwich, Kidderminster, and Bromsgrove, representing " that the said city and towns were in times past well and substantially inhabited, and employed in the manufacture of woollen cloths, until, within a few years past, that divers persons, WOR ( 373 ) WOR dwelling in the hamlets, thorps, and villages of the said shire, have not only engrossed and taken into their hands sundry farms, and become graziers and husbandmen, but also make all manner of cloths, and exercise weaving, fulling, and shearing within their own houses, to the great depopulation of the said city and towns ;" whereupon it was enacted, " That no person within Worcestershire shall make any cloth but the proper inhabitants of the said city and towns excepting persons, who make cloths for their own and family's wearing " — perhaps one of the most barbarous pieces of legislation among the many that deface the Statute-book. This industry was still further coddled and pro- tected by a stipulation inserted in an Act of 26 and 27 Henry VIII. , which directed that all clothiers should weave their several marks in the cloths and kersies produced by them, and after they were put to sale that they should put seals of lead upon them, showing the just lengths of the stuffs to be tried by the water. Upon the length being found less than shown on the seal, "then every clothier to lose to the buyer the double value of so much cloth as it shall want in length on the judgment of two indifferent persons." From these stipulations cloths made within Worcester, Droitwich, Evesham, Kidderminster, and Bromsgrove were allowed exemption. WORSTED. Cloth of long stapled-wool, combed straightly and smoothly, as distinct from woollens, which are woven from short staple wool, crossed and roughed in spinning. Three theories as to the origin of this word and stuff have been proposed. The first and least feasible is that it is a corruption of the Dutch ostade (see Ostade), and was with the manufacture introduced by Flemish weavers who settled here under the early Norman Kings, but as the town of Worstead in Norfolk, which has always been the seat of its production, is mentioned in the Domesday Book, it is held that the fabric must take its name from the town rather than the town be called after an imported fabric. Nares offers the next explanation based on a quotation from Stowe .(" Their officers in jacquetes of wolsted or say party-coloured"). " Worsted is usually supposed to be named from the town so called in Norfolk, where it is therefore thought to have been invented; but woollen thread, yarn, and stuff might naturally be termed vjoolstead, as being of the staple or substance of wool ; and it appears to me more probable that the town was named from the manufacture than that from it. Botb might easily be corrupted to worstead by the common change of 1 for r. Worsted thread, or yarn, must have been known as long as the spinning of wool, that is, as long as clothing was used. The town had, probably, a much later date, and was originally called Woolsted, from being a sted or station for woollen manufac- tures. This, however, is only a conjecture, and opposite to the opinion of Skinner and others. I confess, too, that it varies in the later editions of Stowe." Worsted, or wolsted, as it was more anciently spelt, in all probability took its name from being a woollen market or place for pitching wool for sale ; but again the fact of the name of the town being antecedent to any known manufacture of worsted yarn apparently disposes of this conjecture. There then remains the third derivation, that the yarn is named after the town of its production . On this Blomefield, the laborious historian of Norfolk, says : ' ' The inestimable value of our English wool was not unknown to our ancestors even at the time of WOR ( 374 ) WOR the Conquest, as appears from Domesday Book, where the sheep of every manor are exactly registered ; but yet the manufacturing of it was done by foreigners, and the value then consisted in the goods that were imported in exchange for it ; and, as far as I can find, it continued so at least till Henry I.'s time, when (as I take it, though Fuller makes a doubt of it) the colony of Old Dutch, frighted out of their country by an inundation, came hither, and settled (as he thinks in Pembrokeshire only) ; but I am apt to believe several of them at that time settled at Wursted or Worsted, in Norfolk, and so early introduced the art of stuff- weaving there, which as is natural to suppose, soon made its way into this city ; not that I think it grew to be of any great consequence till the latter end of Henry III. and Edward I.'s time when it much increased so that in Edward II.'s time icorsted-stuf was famous ; and Norwich increased very much by the making of it. "That it was first of all introduced at Worsted, I make no doubt, from its name, which occurs in the most ancient things I meet with in relation to it, it being as plain that it had that name on that account, as the name of Xorwich-stuffs at this day for the same reason ; and it is evident that those historians who say the Flemings introduced the making of them first in this year (1336) are in an error, and were led to it by their finding such numbers of that nation introduced here at this time, who indeed did bring that valuable branch with them, namely, the making of what we call broad-cloth, or the art of clothing.''''* The first mention of worsted occurs in an Act already quoted undsr Oldham ; but the manufacture must have been well established by thatf time, for in 132S "there was a statute made by which all the staples, both beyond and on this side the sea, ordained by Kings in times past, were to cease, and all merchants whatever had liberty of coming into, and going out of England ; and writs were sent to all sheriffs, mayors, and bailitfs of good towns, to inform them of it ; and among others, there was one sent to this city (Norwich). It appears that the King was very desirous to encourage the trade of his subjects in all respects, for I find that his mother, Queen Isabel, had obtained a patentf to be passed with consent of Edward II., her husband, to one John Pecock, Senior, by which he had the assay or measuring of every piece of Worsted made in Norwich or Norfolk, so that till they had paid him for so doing, and had his seal on each piece, no maker could sell a single piece ; and this office was assigned by the said John, with the King's consent, to Robert de Poleye ; but upon the citizens' represen- tation how injurious it was to tht-ir trade, as well as expensive, their burgesses having complained of it in Parliament, the patent was recalled, the assay taken off, and free trade for all worsteds granted ; from which we may learn what a great manufacture was carried on in this branch of business in Edward II. and Edward III.'s time, to which the prodigious increase and popularity of the city was then owing." (Blomefield.) * There i.^, :^ Car as can be found, no proof that the assertion of the origin of worsted stull's as stated by Dr. Rock is correct, where it is said that " by a new method <jtnW and Railway Bookstalls. STERLING & FRANCINE CLARK ART INSTITUTE NK8804.A1 B4 stack Beck, S. William/The draper's dictionary 3 1962 00073 8645 III m& IfiS ■ ■Bl ■ ■ ■1 Bl \V. H ' ■ KM c BgBa . I KM V HSfi ■ HP Ha HI • ■■■■ ^ Kfflj m IHI se afiK « HHH h