HISTORICAL ACCOUNT 
 
 OF THE 
 
 SUBSTANCES 
 
 DESCRIBE EVENTS, AND TO CONVEY IDEAS, 
 
 EARLIEST DATE 
 
 TO' THE 
 
 INVENTION OF PAPER. 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 PRINTED ON PAPER MANUFACTURED SOLELY FROM STRAW. 
 
 By MATTHIAS KOOPS, Esq. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTER BY JAQJJES AND CO. LOMBARD STREET, FLEET STREET, 
 
 l801. 
 
HIS MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY 
 
 KING 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNITED KINGDOMS 
 
 OF 
 
 GREAT-BRITAIN 
 
 AND 
 
 IRELAND. 
 
MOST GRACIOUS SOVEREIGN. 
 
 Sire, 
 
 Your Majesty having been 
 Moft Gracioufly pleafed to grant me 
 Patents for extra&ing printing and 
 writing ink from waite Paper, by re- 
 ducing it to a pulp, and converting it 
 into white Paper, fit for writing, print- 
 ing, and for other purpofes ; and alio 
 for manufacturing Paper from Straw, 
 Hay, Thiftles, wafte and refufe of 
 Hemp and Flax, and different kinds 
 of Wood and Bark, fit for printing, 
 and almoft all other purpofes for which 
 Paper is ufed, 
 
 And 
 
f 1V 1 
 
 And Your Majesty having in 
 September lalt year condefcended to 
 permit me to lay at Your feet the 
 firft ufeful Paper which has ever been 
 made from Straw alone* without any 
 addition of rags ; the Gracious Recep- 
 tion it has met with from Your Ma- 
 jesty, the approbation of the Publick, 
 and the encouragement which the 
 Legiflature has given me by palling 
 an A& of Parliament in its favour has 
 engaged me to reprint thefe lines on 
 Paper manufactured from Straw folely 
 in a more improved ftate, although not 
 yet brought to fuch a ftate of perfec- 
 tion as it will be made in a regular 
 manufa&ure, which muft be entirely 
 
 * Part of this Edition is printed on Straw Paper. 
 
 conftru&ed 
 
• ( v ] - 
 conftru&ed for fuch purpofe, and which 
 I moft humbly flatter myfelf will now 
 much fooner be eftablilhed by the 
 indulgence which Your Majesty's 
 Parliament has granted me. This new 
 Eflay proves, there cannot be any 
 doubt that good and ufeful Paper can 
 be made from Straw alone. 
 
 The favourable manner in which 
 Your Majesty has deigned to look 
 on thefe my humble attempts of dis- 
 covery fhall be a conftant incitement 
 to future exertions, and the profpect. 
 of meriting commendation of a King, 
 always ready to countenance the moft 
 humble endeavours which tend to the 
 common welfare, and who has proved 
 
 Himfelf 
 
[ VI j 
 
 Himfelf the Illuftrious Patron and 
 Protector of Arts and Sciences, obliges 
 me to unremitted perfeverance to 
 bring my attempts to perfection, in the 
 profpect of meriting Your Majesty's 
 commendation, which will be the 
 greateft pleafure I can be fenfible of. 
 
 With the moll ardent wilhes for 
 Your Majesty's health and longevity, 
 and with all poffible deference and 
 humility, I beg leave, Most Gracious 
 Sovereign, to fubfcribe myfelf, 
 
 tOUR MAJESTY'S 
 molt devoted, 
 
 moft obedient, 
 and moft humble Servant, 
 
 1 7, James-ftreet, 
 
 Buckingham-gate, MATTHIAS KOOPS. 
 
 Auguft30, 1 80 1. 
 
Th e art of Paper-making ought to be 
 regarded as one of the moft ufeful which 
 has ever been invented in any age or 
 country ; for it is manifeft, that every other 
 difcovery muft have continued ufelefs to 
 fociety if it could not have been dhTe- 
 minated by manufcripts, or by printing. 
 
 Scientific men, who were neither artifts 
 nor manufacturers, have, by means of this 
 invention, been enabled to communicate 
 their proje&s, which mechanics have after- 
 wards improved and perfected, and by this 
 means enriched the commonwealth. 
 
 B 
 
[ 8 ] 
 
 Without the ufe of Paper, geography 
 and navigation muft have been very incor- 
 rectly underftood; the beautiful charts of 
 the ocean fo accurately laid down have 
 eftablifhed our commercial intercourfe with 
 every part of the globe with fafety ; at 
 the fame time that the delineations upon 
 maps of places, rivers, and countries, are 
 now fo correct, that they enable a traveller 
 to proceed without danger, and even pre- 
 dict, with certainty, the time it will require 
 to convey him to any part of the globe. 
 
 It may be afferted, indeed, of this coun- 
 try, that its grandeur and commercial 
 dignity have been greatly exalted by the 
 invention of Paper; for it is prefumed, 
 that the fuperiority which diftinguifhes 
 the manufactures of this Ifland, chiefly 
 depends upon the liberal publications 
 concentered from all the reft of the 
 world, which have fo greatly increafed 
 in latter years, and which are likely 
 
 farther 
 
[ 9 ] 
 
 farther to be augmented. It is, in lhort, 
 the reputation of the goods fabricated in 
 Great-Britain, which has elevated it to 
 the fplendour and fame it now poffefles, 
 in the fcale of nations* and enables it 
 to monopolize the trade of the uni- 
 verfe.— All thefe are benefits which have 
 flowed from the invention of Paper, and 
 which have fo largely contributed to the 
 prefent flourilhing ftate of the country. 
 
 What infinite trouble and labour, what 
 a fruitlefs confumption of time has not 
 been faved by the knowledge of Paper! 
 how many laborious and dangerous ex- 
 periments have not philofophical projec- 
 tors been fpared ! what labour of invef- 
 tigation and ftudy have not been abridged 
 by the events which the experiments of 
 others have handed down to pofterity! 
 thereby affording to the prefent age a 
 body of information more than adequate 
 to the knowledge any one man could 
 b 2 have 
 
[ io ] 
 
 have attained to in a thoufand years, 
 with all his faculties. 
 
 This reflection alone mull: fix fuch an 
 impreflion on any thinking mind of the 
 invaluable utility of Paper, as to render 
 any further commendation unneceflfary; 
 but in Ihort, the inventions of Paper and 
 Printing have been the caufes of the various 
 gradations of improvement in every art and 
 fcience. Without it, the prefent age would 
 neither have been more civilized nor wifer 
 than it was many centuries ago, becaufe 
 one age could never have conveyed to its 
 pofterity what the labours of the- pall: had 
 atchieved ; for it is well known that, in 
 dark and barbarous ages, the inhabitants 
 of no country have ever made any progrefs 
 towards improvement and civilization with- 
 out the ufe of Writing, Printing, and 
 Paper ; and it feems very probable, that 
 the early knowledge of this article amongfl 
 the Chinefe has been the caufe of thofe 
 
 acquire- 
 
' [ .« 3 : ; ; 
 
 acquirements which have diftihgui fried that 
 truly wonderful nation: for it may be 
 affirmed, that in proportion to the quantity 
 of Paper confumed, by any ftated number 
 of inhabitants in literary purfuits, fo will 
 be their comparative information, civilized 
 Hate, and improvement. 
 
 To enumerate all the various advan- 
 tages which the invention of Paper has 
 afforded mankind, could not be contained 
 in an Eflay of this nature : its ufes are 
 Unquestionable ; and the important fervices 
 it has yielded to all countries where it has 
 been employed are not to be calculated ; 
 it is fufficient to fay here, that the growing 
 youth are educated with facility in the 
 principles of their duty, and barbarous 
 ftates have been foftened and enlightened 
 by means of this difcovery. 
 
 Although this fubjecT: might be much 
 enlarged upon, the intention of this Ad- 
 B 3 drefs 
 
[ 12 ] 
 
 drefs is moft humbly to prefent to Four 
 Moft Gracious Majefty ' the firfi ufeful Paper 
 manufactured folely from Straw, and on 
 which thefe lines are printed. 
 
 From the remarks which have been 
 already made, every perfon muft be con- 
 vinced, that it is of the utmoft confe- 
 quence to prevent the fcarcity of the 
 materials from which Paper is to be fabri- 
 cated. Although cotton has been likewife 
 ufed for this purpofe, paper-makers in this 
 country have depended on linen Rags for 
 the regular purfuit of their employment. 
 
 All Europe has of late years experienced 
 an extraordinary fcarcity of this article, 
 but no country has been fo much injured 
 by it as England. The greatly advanced 
 price, and the abfoiute fcarcity, equally 
 operating to obftruct many printing-prefles 
 in this kingdom ; and various works re- 
 main, for thefe reafons, unpublifhed, which 
 
 might 
 
t 13 ] 
 
 might have proved very ferviceable to the 
 community. 
 
 The great demands for Paper in this 
 country have rendered it neceffary to be 
 fupplied from the continent with Rags. 
 This fupply is extremely precarious, and 
 is likely to be more wanted as the con- 
 fumption of Paper increafes, becaufe this 
 material, which is the bads of Paper, is not 
 to be obtained in England in fufficient 
 quantity. The evil confequence of not 
 having a due fupply of Rags has been 
 the ftoppage of a number of Paper- 
 mills ; and as it is a manufactory which 
 requires numerous hands (of men, women, 
 and children); a great number of them 
 have been thrown upon their refpective 
 parilhes for want of employment. • A Hill 
 more important eonfideration, in the view 
 of commerce, prefents itfelf, when the 
 raw material comes from abroad, becaufe 
 the importation of it is paid ia hard cam, 
 b 4 the 
 
[ 1* ] 
 
 the preparation of which might have em- 
 ployed numbers of idle hands at home 
 advantageoufly. 
 
 Thefe reflections induced me to make 
 various experiments, with a view to remedy, 
 in fome degree, this evil ; and,_ after many 
 trials, I have the fatisfaclion to remark, 
 that I have difcovered feveral fubftitutes 
 for linen Rags, which have been hereto- 
 fore untried and unknown, and which will 
 merit the attention of the public. One 
 of thefe difcoveries is the Art of extract- 
 ing Printing and Writing Ink from Wafte 
 Paper, whether in fmall or large pieces, 
 by obliterating the ink, and rendering the 
 Paper perfectly white, without injuring the 
 texture of the regenerated Paper, and of a 
 quality as good as it originally was, for 
 the purpofes of writing and re-printing. 
 
 It is worthy of the directors of families 
 to order their fervants to fave all the wafte 
 
 White 
 
[ 13 ] ' ; 
 
 White Paper, fuch as letters and old 
 writing-paper, which are generally thrown 
 away or burnt, and regarded as of no 
 confequence; for, mould this be attended 
 to, very confiderable quantities would be 
 collected, and large fums of money faved, 
 which are now expended in foreign coun- 
 tries for Rags ; becaufe, if we calculate 
 that Great Britain contains fifteen hundred 
 thoufand families, and that half a meet of 
 Paper lliould be daily faved in every 
 family, it would produce four thoufand 
 four hundred tons,* which is about one- 
 third of the quantity of Rags which have, 
 of late, been converted annually into 
 Paper in this country ; whereby near two 
 hundred thoufand pounds wouid annually 
 remain in this country, which fum is now 
 fent abroad for the purchafe of Rags; and 
 eighty -two thoufand one hundred and 
 twenty-five pounds would be faved from 
 
 * A ream, or five hundred flieets, being calculated 
 «t eighteen pounds weight. 
 
 fire 
 
[ re ] 
 
 fire and deftruclion, calculating a pound 
 of old Paper torn into pieces at two pence. 
 
 It has been imagined, that the prefent 
 war has principally contributed to produce 
 the fcarcity of Paper-ftuff, which, how- 
 ever, does not appear to be the fole 
 caufe, becaufe the quantity of Rags ufed 
 for making lint is very inconfiderable, 
 compared to the enormous quantity at 
 prefent ufed for the manufacture of Paper. 
 Cartridges have ufually been made on the 
 continent of old written Paper, which 
 heretofore has been of no other ufe to 
 Paper-makers than for the fabrication of 
 pafte-boards. — It appears, from various 
 confiderations, that the fcarcity has ori- 
 ginated from the extenfion of learning, 
 which occafions much larger quantities 
 of Paper for writing and printing; the 
 large increafe of newfpapers and monthly 
 publications. Additional ftationers, prin- 
 ters, and bookfellers, countenance this 
 
 opinion. 
 
t " 3 ' 
 
 opinion. More children are now every 
 where taught to read and write; and the 
 hand-bills of every defcription, ufed for 
 mopkeepers, plays, quackery, and other 
 trades, require additional quantities of 
 Paper. Paper-hanging, which is an in- 
 vention of the middle of the ieventeenth 
 century, has, of late years, become more 
 general; and few new-built houfes are 
 finiihed with walls, or wainfcot, as for- 
 merly, but the furface is every where 
 decorated with painted or ftained Paper, 
 which is the moft beautiful, the cleaneft, 
 and the cheapeft ornament for furnifliing 
 rooms. 
 
 I beg leave to obferve, that little general 
 knowledge, upon this ufeful fubject, has 
 been hitherto communicated to the public; 
 I, therefore, will endeavour to give a brief 
 hiftorical account of the various methods 
 and materials which have been ufed to 
 convey ideas to pofterity, from the moft 
 
 ancient 
 
I 18 ] 
 
 ancient date to the period when the art of 
 making Paper, from linen rags, was in- 
 vented. 
 
 The art of writing, in itfelf, proves that 
 mankind, at the time of its invention, 
 muft already have been in a certain de- 
 gree civilized, and cannot therefore be 
 very ancient; but the exact time when 
 this art was difcovered is impoflible to 
 be traced. 
 
 The invention of letters, and their various 
 combinations, in the forming of words in 
 any language, has fomething fo ingenious 
 and wonderful in it, that moll: who have 
 treated thereof, can hardly forbear attri- 
 buting it to a divine original, and fpeaking 
 of it with fuch a high admiration which 
 is not far from a kind of rapture. Indeed, 
 if we confider of what vaft, and even daily 
 fervice it is to mankind, it muft be certainly 
 allowed to be one of the greateji, and moft 
 
 furprizing 
 
[ 19 ] 
 
 farprizing difcoveries that ever was made 
 in the world. No perfon can deny of 
 what general ufe the art of writing is in 
 commerce ; in contracts of every kind ; in 
 preferving, improving, and propagating 
 learning and knowledge ; in communi- 
 cating our fentiments to, and correfpond- 
 ing with our friends, with thofe we love, 
 or others, at any diftance, whither letters 
 can be conveyed. And by the means of 
 writing, as the moft valuable of all its 
 advantages, we have a code of divine laws, 
 ufeful hiftory, indifputable revelations, as 
 a conftant direBory for our conduct, in 
 our courfe through this probationary ftate 
 of life, to a happy eternity. 
 
 Notwithstanding thefe great and mani- 
 fold benefits, which men have all along 
 received from this curious and wonderful 
 invention, it is very remarkable, that 
 writing, which gives fome degree of immor- 
 tality 
 
[ 20 ] 
 
 tality to almoft all other things, mould be, 
 by the difpofal of Divine Providence, fo 
 ordered, as to be carelefs in preferving the 
 memory of its firft founders. No archives 
 are preferved, wherein the names of thofe 
 perfons are repofited, that have deferved 
 fo much of mankind, by inventing the 
 characters, and alphabets, proper to exprefs 
 their own language and thoughts! If 
 we enquire only after our own country 
 way of writing, who can tell us the 
 names of thofe ingenious men, that firft 
 found out the alphabets ufed in our offices 
 of records, or indeed any hand in ufe 
 amongft us? 
 
 Some make objections to this boafted 
 utility of writing, and likewife to the 
 new-difcovered fubftitutes for Paper-ftufF, 
 by which the quantity of Paper, unavoid- 
 ably neceffary for writing, will be fo 
 greatly encreafed. They alledge, that 
 
 the 
 
[ 2! ] 
 
 the inconveniencks, and- evils,* that letters 
 are the caufes of, are equal to, if not 
 more, than the advantages that arife there- 
 from. Vicious and libertine books, fay 
 they, are the lafting fources of corruption 
 in faith and morals. By the means of 
 Paper and writing, falfe notions in religion, 
 and even highly irritating herefies are 
 broached, and fpeedily propagated ; trai- 
 torous correfpondencies are held, and de- 
 ceitful contrivances are. carried on to the 
 ruin of private families, and often to the 
 deilruction of happinefs in wedlock; and 
 fometimes to the fubveriion of public ad- 
 miniftrations and government, which we 
 
 * N. Tate, Poet Laureat in Queen June's time, 
 wrote the following lines on the good and evil of 
 writing. 
 
 View writing's art, that like a fovereign Queen 
 
 Amongft her fubje&s fciences are feen; 
 
 As fhe in dignity the reft tranfcends, 
 
 So far her power of good and harm extends; 
 
 And flrange effe&s in both from her we find, 
 
 The Pallas and Pandora of mankind. 
 
 have 
 
[ 22 ] 
 
 have in late years experienced in the 
 major part of Europe. — It is certain that 
 much mifchief has arifen from Paper and 
 Writing; and yet what is it but faying, 
 that the pen is as dangerous an inftrument 
 in the world as the tongue ? muft we 
 therefore renounce the ufe of the one, as 
 well as the other ? This would be a fana- 
 tical extreme, that all perfons of common 
 fenfe and common prudence will avoid 
 and abhor : for it is evident, that it is not ( 
 the proper ufe, but the abufe of the art, 
 that is objected againft. 
 
 Lycurgus, a king *of Thrace, obferving 
 the bad effects of wine amongft fuch of 
 his fubjects who drank it to excefs, had 
 all the vines in his kingdom cut down, 
 and deftroyed. Can any one applaud that 
 king's contrivance, as a piece of wifdom? 
 or was it not rather a foolim and frantic 
 act? The fame muft be applied to the 
 above fubjeft; for as there is hardly any 
 
 one 
 
I 23 ] 
 
 one ufeful and good thing in the world but 
 what may be perverted to bad purpofes; 
 £o the abufe of Paper and Writing is a 
 poor argument againft the general and 
 great utility thereof. There have been 
 lome perfons like Lycitrgus, of Thrace, 
 of this erroneous way of reasoning, with 
 regard to letters ; Tkamns, an ancient 
 Egyptian king, as is ftated in Plato's Phee- 
 drus? remonftrated againft the ufe thereof; 
 as alfo againft the reception of the ufeful 
 parts of the mathematics, when Tkeut 
 offered to introduce them amongft his 
 fubjeelis. Lieinius, a Roman emperor like- 
 wife, was a great enemy to letters, and 
 ufed men of learning and philofophers 
 with outrageous cruelty, calling them the 
 bane and peft of Jbciety, But thefe muft 
 be looked upon as the extravagant no- 
 tions and whims of ignorant perfons who 
 obftinately glory to deviate from common 
 fenfe and the judgment of mankind ; and 
 therefore ought to be no further regarded, 
 
 c than 
 
[ 2* ] 
 
 than for their Angularity, and the abfurd 
 confequences that attend them. 
 
 Another pretext againft the ufe of Paper 
 and Writing feems to be more plaufible 
 than the former is, that it is an encourage- 
 ment to a lazy difpofition. The objector 
 fays, if we truft too much to books, or only 
 write out what we ought to commit to 
 our memories, we may in that be faid to 
 lean to a broken ftaff ; and be apt to ima- 
 gine ourfelves more learned and knowing 
 than in reality we are. It is not the pof- 
 feflion of an extenfive and beautiful library 
 with learned books that makes a man wife 
 and learned ; nor a fuperflcial manner of 
 reading them over, or even making extracts 
 from them, by way of a common memo- 
 randum book, that will enable us to fpeak 
 pertinently upon fubjects, of which we 
 wilh to have the appearance to be matters. 
 Nothing but a fund in the memory, a 
 large ftock of good obfervations, and the 
 
 real 
 
£ 25 ] 
 
 real bajis of knowledge, gained by diligence 
 and experience carefully gathered and laid 
 up there, can enable us to fet up as traders 
 in literature. Otherwife, we fuppofe our- 
 felves to be great fcholars in the fame 
 manner as an empty, vain-glorious man, 
 whom Seneca mentions, did : ( Calvijius 
 Sabinus). As he was rich, he hired into his 
 houfe feveral fervants, that were well 
 qualified in feveral forts of learning; and 
 on this Jlock he fet up for a perfon of 
 erudition; fo that he could refolve by them 
 almoft any queftion in the circle of litera- 
 ture that was ftarted amongft his vintants, 
 
 Juft fo may be faid, that the relying on 
 books, the product of writing on Paper, 
 gives the mind a turn to an indolent habit ; 
 and takes it off from that induftrious purfuit 
 and attention, by which a mature know- 
 ledge of arts and fciences are the moft 
 properly and furely gained. This objec- 
 tion muftbe allowed in its full force, but 
 c 2 never- 
 
[ 2 * 1 
 
 nev«r thelefs the knowledge of letters can- 
 not be the real caufe of fuch indolence, or 
 deficiency in the improvement of -our na- 
 tural powers and faculties. The noble 
 inventions of Paper and writing can, there- 
 fore, by no means be accufed of encou- 
 raging floth or negligence ; but, if it be 
 made a right ufe of, it is undeniably of 
 fpeeial afiiftance to mankind in their 
 literary purfuits and acquifitions. For 
 where is the memory, however well cul- 
 tivated, that does not fail the owner fome- 
 times in particular circumftances ? and 
 then to have recourfe to the fubfidiary 
 aid of writing on Paper, muft be allowed 
 to be of fingular advantage. A perfon may 
 fometimes remember very well a quotation, 
 or a ftory, but may, even for the moment, 
 not be able to recollect the author's name, 
 which is often required to an illuftration ; 
 is in fuch inftanee a good library therefore 
 not a beneficial refource ? Is here not fully 
 proved the ufefulnefs of Paper and Wri- 
 ting? 
 
E 27 3 
 
 ting? Let none, therefore, lay that blame 
 upon the ufe thereof, which more juftly 
 belongs to their own wrong way of rea- 
 foning; for it can no way encourage idle- 
 nefs, but rather opens and exhibits an 
 ample field, in which the induftrious may 
 advantageoufiy employ themfelves with ho- 
 nour and credit, if it be applied to the 
 various good purpofes for which it is moft 
 truly adapted. 
 
 Mr. Robert More gives a definition of 
 writing in the following words: Writing, 
 (fays he, in his fhort effay upon the inven- 
 tion thereof,) is fuch a reprefentation of our 
 words, but more permanent, as our words are 
 for ought to be J of our thoughts. He ftates 
 that the various combinations of twenty- 
 four letters (and none of them repeated) 
 will amount to 
 
 620,448,401,733,239,439,360,000* 
 
 * Thefe figures are right ; and I join here, for the 
 ufe of thofe who with to be informed, the calculation, 
 c 3 which 
 
[ 28 ] 
 
 Writing, in the moft ancient language 
 
 that 
 
 which is done by multiplying all the twenty- four 
 figures one with another. 
 
 i 
 
 by 2 
 2 
 
 h Y 3 
 
 6 
 
 h Y 4 
 
 120 
 
 by 6 
 720 
 
 504° 
 
 by 8 
 
 40320 
 9 
 
 362880 
 by 10 
 
 3628800 
 by 11 
 
 39916800 
 by 12 
 
 479001600 
 
 *>y 13 
 
 6227020800 
 *>y 14 
 
 87178291200 
 
[ 29 1 * 
 
 that we know of, is called Dikduk cncn, 
 
 which 
 
 87178291200 
 by 15 
 
 1307674368000 
 by 16 
 
 20922789888000 
 by 17 
 
 355687428096000 
 by 18 
 
 6402373705728000 
 b y 19 
 
 ,1 2 1645 100408832000 
 by 20 
 
 2432902008176640000 
 by 2 * 
 
 51090942171709440000 
 by 22 
 
 1124000727777607680000 
 by 2 3 
 
 25852016738884976640000 
 by 2 4 
 
 620,448,401,733,239,439,360,000 
 
 Clavius, the Jefuit, who alfo computed thefe com- 
 binations, makes the number to be but 
 
 5,852,616,738,497,664,000 
 which feems to be an error of the prefs, and that he 
 calculates only 23 letters in his alphabet, and the mif- 
 printing appears only in a few figures 
 
 25,852,016,738,884,976,640,000 
 C 4 
 
[ 30 ] 
 
 winch it is faid fignirles a fubtle invention; 
 and fo it really is, and appears to be, if 
 we do but refleft, as Tully obferves in 
 his Tufadan Hue/lions, that the founds of 
 the voice, which are in a manner infinite, 
 are reprefented by a few marks or chambers, 
 which we call letters. Thefe letters in He- 
 brew are called Othioth, iwih that is, 
 Signs; being the %ns, or representations 
 of our words, as is expreffed in the fore- 
 going definition. 
 
 But it may not be amifs here to take 
 notice, that it is not abfolytely neceflary 
 that there mould be juft fuch a precifc 
 number of letters, twenty-four, neither 
 more or lefs, to exprefs all the words in 
 a language. The alphabets of various 
 languages mew the contrary. The Hebrew, 
 Samaritan, and Syriac, have twenty-two; 
 the Arabic, twenty-eight; the Perficl and 
 Egyptian or Coptic, thirty-two; the pre- 
 fent Ruffian, forty-one; the Malabar, fifty, 
 
 one; 
 
[ 31 ] 
 
 one; the Japa?iefe have three alphabets, 
 and forty-eight letters; the Chinefe have 
 no alphabet, but ufe near eighty thoufand 
 characters; the Greeks are fuppofed to have 
 had but fixteen letters at the firft. But tha 
 ingenious Wachter, in his Nature K Scrip- 
 ture Concordia, has formed a fcheme to 
 fhew, that ten characters, the number of 
 our fingers, are fufficient for the exprefling 
 of all words in all languages; as ten 
 figures, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, are fuf- 
 ficient to all calculations. As this inven- 
 tion of Mr. Wachter is at leaft a curiofity, I 
 have here inferted it. 
 
 Co*- 
 
[ 32 ] 
 
 Conspectus Alphabets Naturalis 
 
 Ex Wachtcri Natura & Scripturce Concordia, page 64^ 
 
 Genus. 
 
 FlGURA. 
 
 POTESTAS. 
 
 Vocal 
 
 
 a, Cj l) 0, u. 
 
 \jrlilLUr 
 
 0 
 
 V 
 
 k c ch. 0. cr. h. 
 
 Lingual 
 
 
 1 
 
 Lingual 
 
 
 a, t. 
 
 Lingual 
 
 
 r» 
 
 Dental 
 
 1 1 1 
 1 1 
 
 s« 
 
 Labial 
 
 3 
 
 b, p. 
 
 Labial 
 
 m 
 
 m. 
 
 Labial 
 
 H 
 
 f, ph, v, w.. 
 
 Nafal 
 
 A 
 
 n. 
 
 The art of writing was for a long time 
 entirely unknown in Germany, until the 
 
 reign 
 
[ 33 ] 
 
 reign of the Emperor Charles the Grdat, 
 and made even very little progrefs for a 
 number of years after his reign. Contracts 
 and deeds were only regiftered in very 
 extraordinary cafes, and in general confided 
 to the memory of authentic and refpeclable 
 perfons ; and in the prefent time, there is 
 in no country written more than in Ger- 
 many, which is proved by about one hun- 
 dred thoufand new publications annually; 
 which confume a vaft quantity of Paper. 
 
 Having ftiortly noticed the letters in* 
 vented and adopted for writing and print- 
 ing, and conveying ideas, fentiments, and 
 improvements in arts and fciences from one 
 to another, I will now give a brief account 
 of the inftruments and materials which 
 have been made ufe of, before I proceed 
 to a hiftory of the materials which have 
 been engraved, printed, and written on. 
 
 The 
 
C 3 * J 
 
 The inftruments were of two kinds; tfiey 
 performed their Services either immediately 
 or by the afliftanee of fluids. To the 
 iirft belong the wedge, ^amens); the 
 chifTel, (celtes, celten, coelhim, caelum) j 
 and the writing fefcue, (Jiilus, graphium)i 
 And to the fecond, the writing reed; 
 {calamus fcriptorius, or calamus chariarius)i 
 the pencil ; and the quills or pens. 
 
 The wedge and the cliiffel are the 
 molt ancient writing inftruments ; the 
 firft inhabitants of the globe formed there- 
 with in wood, Hone, and on metal and 
 wax, their images, or representations, 
 hieroglyphicks, and at laft their alpha- 
 betical letters, which have been mentioned 
 in the Bible in feveral places ; (Job, 
 ch. xix. v. 23, 24. Jeremiah, ch.xviL v. I.) 
 On thofe followed the writing-fefeue, 
 which was ufually made from iron, and 
 fometimes from ivory, copper, filver, &c. 
 Genteel perfons ufed in general fefcues 
 St'li-i . I ' of 
 
I 35 ] 
 
 <jf ftjverj of which one has been found of 
 ChilderLcru Thofe of ivory or bone were 
 ufed to write on wood and wax; and 
 thofe made of iron for writing on leaden 
 and copper plates. 
 
 Theffe fefcues were of different ihapes; 
 fometimes large and ftrong, and fmall and 
 thin, for other purpofes ; fome were of the 
 fhape of pins or needles ; but one end 
 was ufually blunt and broad, to efface the 
 mifwritten letters and words, which were 
 named by the Romans, JHlum vertert* 
 Some fefcues were fo large, that they 
 could be ufed for the fame purpofes as 
 ftilettos ; and feveral authors have noticed, 
 that in many inftances they have been 
 employed for committing murder. But it 
 is doubtful, if this be the reafon, why 
 the ufe thereof has been entirely prohi- 
 bited for fome time in Rome. It would 
 be a ftrange interdiction; and as fingular 
 m a prohibition of cords and knives, be- 
 
 caufe 
 
[ s« ] 
 
 caufe they have been fometimes employed 
 for committing murder and fuicide. 
 
 But fuch fefcues were too fharp for 
 writing on parchment and Egyptian paper, 
 for which reafon reeds were employed for 
 thofe. purpofes. Pliny fays, that the an- 
 cients gave the preference to Egyptian 
 reed, (cognatione quadam papyri.) Yet many 
 other reeds have been ufed; and Martimis 
 Crufius ftates, that the writing reeds from 
 Perfia were generally ufed. When fuch 
 reeds became blunt by ufe, they were 
 either iharpened with a knife, or on a 
 rough ftone, and fuch re-pointed reed was 
 named by Cicero calamum temperatum. 
 
 The reeds were fplit on the points, like 
 our pens, to lay the colour or ink neater 
 on the paper or parchment, for which 
 reafon Aufonius names them diffipedes. 
 According to Chardin, the ufe of reeds is 
 jftill continued in feveral Oriental coun- 
 tries, 
 
[ 37 ] 
 
 tries, and not fuperceded by the introduc- 
 tion of quills. Goguet and others main- 
 tain that pencils have been ufed for writing 
 prior to the introduction of reeds, but 
 nothing can be pofitively afcertained, ex- 
 cept that reeds have been always more 
 abundantly in ufe than pencils. The 
 Chinefe continue ftill to ufe hair-pencils 
 for painting their letters. Their ink-ftand 
 is a polifhed piece of marble, with a hole 
 in one corner containing water, in which 
 they dip a piece of ink, and rub it on 
 the marble more or lefs, according as they 
 wifh to make the ftrokes more black or 
 brighter. They hold the pencil perpendi- 
 cular, and write from the right to the left, 
 from the top to the bottom. The marble, 
 paper, pencil, and ink, which are all their 
 writing inftruments and materials, are 
 jointly named pau-tfe. 
 
 Rauwolff tells us in his Travels, p. 87, 
 (Augiburg, 1573,) that in the Turkifli 
 
 dominions, 
 
t « ] 
 
 dominions, in the fhops, canes (for pens) 
 are to be fold, which are fmall and hol- 
 Jow within, fmooth without, and of a 
 brownifh red colour, wherewith the Turks 
 and Moors write : for to write with goofe- 
 quills is not in ufe with them. Taver- 
 nier alfo, in one of his voyages, p. 229, 
 tells us, that the Perfians ufe three forts of 
 hands: fet-hand, court-hand, and running- 
 hand ; and that they write with fmall In- 
 dian reeds, bearing their hands exceeding 
 lightly. Their ink, he fays, is made of 
 galls and charcoal, pounded together with 
 foot; but their paper is coarfe and brown, 
 being made of cotton fuftian. Sir John 
 Chardin, in his Travels, vol. ii. p. 108, &c. 
 Ukewife obferves, that the Perfians, who 
 write from the right hand to the left, hold 
 their paper in their hands, and do not 
 lean upon tables or delks, as we do, and 
 perform their work with dexterity. Worm, 
 Jn his Mufeum, p. 164 and 383, tells us, 
 that the inhabitants of Malacca write from 
 
 the 
 
[ 3d ] 
 
 the left band to the right, as we do, upon 
 the leaves of palm trees, fome of which 
 are two cubits long, two inches broad, 
 and as thick as parchment; they make 
 their letters, by pricking the leaf with an 
 iron ftyle, which they hold in their right 
 hand, while the leaf is held in the left. 
 The Turks in like manner, who employ a 
 great number of clerks, as they permit 
 no printing amongft them, according to 
 the aforefaid RauwolfFs teftimony, oftener 
 write upon their knees than upon delks 
 or tables, 
 
 V 
 
 The introduction of quills, of which we 
 make at prefent our writing pens, accord- 
 ing to Ifidorus, Moritfaucon, and Schwarz, 
 is only one thoufand two or three hundred 
 years fince ; and thofe who fay that it has 
 been noticed by Juvenal are as erroneous 
 as Chrift, who, in his treatife on Li- 
 terature and Antiquities, ftates, p. 321, 
 t&at pens made of quills are only two or 
 d three 
 
[ *° ] 
 
 three hundred years in ufe. In the im~ 
 penal library at Vienna is a picture, ex- 
 hibited as a great curiofity, of Ariftotle's 
 writing with a quill ; and in Rome is the 
 ftatue from which this picture is copied, 
 with a manufcript written in 1471. If 
 that had been written in Ariftotle's time, 
 the ftatue would have been moft likely 
 carved with a reed inftead of a quill. 
 Ilidorus Hifpalenfis, who lived about the 
 middle of the feventh century, is the 
 firft who ufed the word penna for a 
 writing pen. 
 
 Let me here obferve, that wherever the 
 word pen occurs in our Englifh tranfla- 
 tion of the Old and^ New Teftament, we 
 muft not . underftand it of a pen made 
 of a quill, but of an iron ftyle, or a 
 reed ; for though our name pen be derived 
 from the Latin penna, yet this latter is 
 never ufed for a pen to write with, in 
 the Roman dailies. Bayle, in his dic- 
 tionary, 
 
f 41] 
 
 tionary, relates a remarkable particular of 
 Leo Allatius, that he having made ufe of 
 one and the fame pen for forty years, in 
 writing Greek, and lofmg it at laft, was 
 ready to cry for grief ; but he does not 
 inform us what that pen was made of, 
 nor whether he did not make ufe of 
 fome others between whiles. To give an 
 inftance nearer home of a fimilar cafe, 
 Philemon Holland, a phyfician'of Coventry* 
 tranflated Pliny's Natural Hiftory into En- 
 glish with one pen, as he fays himfelf in 
 thefe lines: 
 
 With one fole pen, I wrote this book, 
 
 Made of a grey-goofe (juill ; 
 A pen it was when I it took, 
 
 A pen I leave it Hill. 
 
 The author of the Hiftory of Manual Arts, 
 8vo. p. ,61, fays, that a lady, whofe name 
 he mentions not, preferved this identical 
 pen in a filver cafe; fo that it poffibly 
 may remain in fome mufeum of curiofi- 
 tiesto this day. 
 
 n 2 In 
 
£ 42 ] 
 
 In tfll ftationery mops in this country- 
 are now exhibited for fale various pens 
 made of gold and filver, fome of which 
 are very ufeful, containing ink in fuch a 
 manner, that a perfon, by making it, is 
 at all times able to write on promenades 
 and travelling, or in libraries, picture 
 galleries, naturalifts cabinets, &c. which 
 is much preferable to the writing with 
 black-lead pencils, which rubs out and 
 is obliterated. The mechanic Scheller 
 in Leipfic makes a fuperior kind. Ne-- 
 verthelefs, pens made of goofe-quills re- 
 main in common ufe, the confumption of 
 which is now very great in all countries, 
 and are imported in many countries to' a 
 considerable amount. Is it, therefore, not 
 furprizing that no greater attention is 
 paid to breed geefe more abundantly, as 
 they provide not only pens to write with, 
 but aifo feathers for our beds to repofe 
 easily, and wholefome food for our fup- 
 port ? 
 
 In 
 
t ] 
 
 In the library of the Duke of Brunf- 
 wick at "Wolfenbuttle is an old t Greek 
 manufcript of the four Evangelifts, in 
 which the pictures of St. Matthew and 
 St. Mark are painted with beautiful cot 
 lours on a gilt ground. All the ancient 
 writing utenfils are here more diftinct 
 than in any other work. The ink-ftand 
 is therein of a black colour, and clofe to 
 it a vefTel which feems to contain a red 
 liquid. 
 
 The fand-box or glafs was likewife a 
 writing utenfil of the ancients. But they 
 joined alfo another vefTel or glafs, filled 
 with a liquid, to attenuate the ink. 
 
 The fefcue and reed had always a fepa- 
 rate confervatory, to prevent their being 
 damaged, which was named by the Latins 
 tkeca calamaria, and graphiarium. A 
 puncher was ufually joined, which ferved 
 to point out the commencement and 
 d 3 end 
 
end of each line, and fometimes the large 
 letters. 
 
 The rule, regula* norma, canon, was 
 ufually a feparate utenfil, but fometimes 
 joined in the'confervatbry. It was ufed to 
 draw lines, and to divide the meets of 
 parchment into columns, The lines were 
 drawn with an instrument, fimilar to a 
 demi*circle, with a handle, and leaden 
 or iron points. The fame inftriiment, if 
 of iron, ferved likewife for cutting the 
 parchment or paper. If it was too ftiarp, 
 it often cut the parchment. This inftru- 
 meat was named fubula. Blank lines, 
 drawn either with the fefcue or with 
 the fubula, are difcovered in all neatly 
 written ancient manufcripts, and in many 
 records from the fixth to the fourteenth 
 century. The pierced points difcovered 
 on both ends of the lines were made 
 with the before mentioned puncher. 
 
 Pumice 
 
L 1 
 
 Pumice (pumex) was likewife a writing 
 material of the ancients, and ufed to 
 fmooth the ro.ugh and uneven parts of the 
 parchment, or to ftiarpen the reed. Pu- 
 mice has been likewife ufed in modern 
 times to erafe ancient writings, to the 
 deftruction of valuable manufcripts, which 
 parchments were again fmoothened, and 
 often fcribbled over inconfequent fluff, or 
 of lefs note than it contained formerly, 
 which is the origin of codices re/cripti. 
 But if the ink had funk too much in the 
 parchment, remnants of the old letters 
 remained,, as is to befeen in the library at 
 ^Volfenbuttle, where is preferved an oli 
 piece of parchment, from which the Epiftle 
 to the Romans was erafed, and the copyift 
 had written the Origines of the JJilhop 
 Ifidorus. 
 
 A fponge ferved to rub out fuch letters 
 as were written by miftake or inattention 
 on the parchment, and to wipe off or to 
 d 4 cleanfe 
 
[ 4ff ] 
 
 cleanfe the writing reed. Parchment or 
 paper was cut either with paper-fciflarSj 
 or the before mentioned fubula ; and all 
 lines were feparated at an equal diftance 
 with a compafs. 
 
 The ink that the ancients wrote With, 
 was of various kinds, in the compofition 
 and colours, as we have it now. Black, as 
 atprefent, was the moft common ; for that 
 reafon the Latins called it, melan, dira- 
 mentum. Diofcorides, Pliny, Vitruvius, 
 and Ifodorus have acquainted us with the 
 different preparations of the ink which 
 the ancients ufed, which are not at all 
 iimilar to the prefent. Pliny fays, that 
 the Romans made their ink of foot, taken 
 from furnaces and baths. Some alfo wrote 
 with the black liquid that is found in the 
 fepia, or cuttle-fifh. Dalechamp, in a 
 note upon the aforefaid chapter of Pliny, 
 obferves, that the northern nations, (with- 
 out explaining which he means by that 
 
 term) 
 
[ 47 ] 
 
 term) write very well with the faid li- 
 quid, by adding a little alum to it. Jacob 
 Quandt defcribes the ink of the ancient 
 Hebrews, and in the Canaparius* publimed 
 at Venice in 1619, are publimed a great 
 number of receipts for making the ink 
 of the ancients. 
 
 Perfius, the poet, in the following verfes, 
 tranflated by Mr. Dryden, humoroufly 
 defcribes a lazy young ftudent, laying the 
 blame of his own idlenefs upon his writ- 
 ing materials; where he metaphorically 
 puts sepia for ink, and ufes three different 
 words, in the compafs of four lines, viz. 
 calamus, arundo, and fiftula, for a pen. 
 
 With much ado, his book before him laid, 
 And parchment with the fmoother fide difplay'd ; 
 He takes the papers, lays 'em down again, 
 And with unwilling fingers tries his pen ; 
 
 Some 
 
 * This book is written in bad Latin, and defcribes 
 numerous chemical experiments, and was therefore 
 re-publiftied at London in 1660 ; and at Rotterdam in 
 
[ 48 J 
 
 Some peevifl* quarrel ftraight he flrives to pick* 
 His quill writes double, or his ink's too thick ; 
 Infufe more water ; now 'tis grown too thin, 
 It finks, nor can the chara&ers be feen. 
 
 The firft ink was made of red wine, 
 concentrated by boiling, and of mulk 
 named fapa% fince of mulberry juice; 
 but principally of foot, tempered with 
 fome glue or gum, and fometimes, for 
 the prefervation of paper and parchment, 
 with an extract from wormwood. The 
 Chinefe make ink from lamp-black, ob- 
 tained by burning different materials, prin- 
 cipally of fir wood and oil, of which they 
 make a pafte and dry it. AIL ink made of 
 foot, changed in the courfe of time, ils 
 black colour into yellow, as appears by 
 many ancient manufcripts. But we muft 
 not form a decided, opinion on the colour 
 of ink with Which manufcripts have been 
 written ; becaufe we find, in almoft all 
 manufcripts of the firft fourteen centuries, 
 letters of different colours, from the palefl 
 
 to 
 
to^the darkeit ; and Wanlley jufdy obferves, 
 that amongft ancient manufcripts, of one 
 thoufand years and upwards old, are found 
 fome written with ink yet darker black 
 than any which we now are able to make. 
 We cannot, therefore, rejecl; the antiquity 
 of a diploma, becaufe it refembles our 
 modern ink. 
 
 Our anceftors ufed not only black ink, 
 but alfo red ink of different fhades and 
 qualities, which was made of ruddle, 
 rubrica; red lead, minium; the juice of 
 kermes, coccus ; or of vermilion, cinnabaris; 
 and fometimos purple ink, which was 
 made, with a particular treatment, from 
 boiled purple "fnails, and their pulverized 
 ftiells. * . 
 
 Purple ink was very expenfive, and 
 therefore not much ufed*. The writing 
 
 therewith 
 
 * The knowledge of the iogredients u£d by |hc 
 ancients in making purple was loft wij& &e conque# 
 
 of 
 
[ SO' ] 
 
 therewith became in later times a pre- 
 rogative of the Emperors, that colour 
 being a token of dignity, grandeur, and 
 fublimity. The oriental Emperors figned 
 their edicls and mandates with purple ink, 
 for which reafon it was named facrum 
 encaujium; and as late as the twelfth cen- 
 tury, they divided that honour with their 
 next relations. The Emperor Leo inter- 
 dicted the ; ufe of the facrum encaujium to 
 all private perfons and noblemen; and 
 the regents who governed the ftate, during 
 the minority of an Emperor, ufed not 
 purple, but green ink for their fignature. 
 Montfaucon notices fome Imperial figna- 
 tures with facro encaufto, which is greatly 
 
 different 
 
 of Conftantinople, becaufe the purple-manufa&ures 
 were, fince the reign of Theodofius, the great pri- 
 vate property of" the Emperors, and therefore there 
 remained only one at Tyre, and another at Con- 
 ftantinople. The former place was dellroyed by the 
 Saracens and the other by the Turks ; and thus thi* 
 art, with which only a few perfons were acquainted, 
 has been loft, and not yet again discovered. 
 
[ 51 ] 
 
 different from the encauflum ufed by the 
 Greeks and Romans for painting. 
 
 Jofephus fays, the Jews had their thora 
 with golden letters; and Hieronymus men- 
 tions that in his time has been written 
 with gold ; which yet is copioufly done 
 in Egypt, according to Maillet's defcrip- 
 tion of Egypt, vol. 2; p. 192. It is well 
 known, that the Perfians, when they write 
 to their fuperiors, to whom they wifh 
 to mew in their letters high veneration, 
 write on white paper with gold flowers ; 
 and they paint the name and title with 
 gold letters. 
 
 The gold ink has been prepared differ- 
 ent . ways ; the cuftomary method has 
 been, to mix pure gold and filver in a 
 crucible over the fire, adding porphyrian 
 marble and fulphur, after it has been 
 converted into fine powder, and digefted 
 over a flow fire in an earthen well-covered 
 
 veffeL 
 
L 52 ] 
 
 Teffel. The whole was then put into the 
 fame well-covered earthen vefTel, and 
 kept on a flow fire until it was red. 
 When cold, it was pounded in a marble 
 mortar, with plenty of water ; when fettled* 
 that water was poured off, and other 
 water ufed until it was found thoroughly- 
 clean. If wanted for ufe, a part thereof 
 was taken the day before, and fome gum 
 and water added, and, when ufed, made 
 milk-warm. 
 
 » Conftantine the Great ordered fair- 
 hand -Writers to make fifty copies of the 
 Bible on parchment, under the direction 
 of the Bifhops Caefarea and Eufebius, which 
 have been fince copied at different times 
 with gold letters by command of his fuc- 
 ceflbrs. 
 
 At Hervorden is preferved a manu- 
 fcript written with gold letters, found in 
 the grave of Wittekind. 
 
 In 
 
[ 53 1 
 
 In the cathedral of Aix la Chapelle is 
 a part of the ►New Teftament written 
 with golden letters. It was put into the 
 grave of Charles the Great at the time 
 of his burial, but the Emperor Otto the 
 Third ordered it to be taken out in the 
 year 1000, which was 186 years after 
 the death of Charles. This book is re- 
 markable becaufe the Emperors of the 
 Roman empire were bound at their co- 
 ronation to make their oath by laying 
 their fingers on the firft page of St. 
 John the evangelift. It. is in a large 
 quarto fize, and -was elegantly bound 400 
 years after the death of Charles the Great, 
 and is, with the cover, about three inches 
 thick. The leaves are all of a violet- 
 colour, and the gold colour of the letters 
 is tolerably well preferved. The book 
 contains the writings of the four evan- 
 gelifts; but all that which belongs not 
 to the text, is written with filver letters, 
 and not fo well preferved. The whole 
 
 is 
 
I 54 ] 
 
 is very neat, but not divided into chap- 
 ters and verfes ; it is in una ferie, with- 
 out any Hops, points, or other marks of 
 diftinction ; without capital letters or or- 
 naments : the letters are however all of 
 one fize, and the words without abbrevi- 
 ations. It feems to be written either 
 at the latter end of the eighth, or the 
 commencement of the ninth century. 
 The feveral accounts given of this book 
 are contradictory. Koehler erroneoufly 
 afferts that it is. written on bark -paper, 
 but it is certain, and I am eye-witnefs 
 by examination, that the leaves are thin 
 parchment. If this book has not been 
 taken away before Aixla Chapelle was 
 Frenchified, I am at a lofs to know in what 
 manner any future Emperor can be con- 
 ftitutionally crowned, becaufe, according 
 to the conftitution of Germany, feveral 
 infignia are required at the coronation of 
 an Emperor, which are gathered together 
 from feveral places, and brought folemnly 
 
 to 
 
[ 55 ] 
 
 to Francfort on the Main for the ufe of 
 the coronation. 
 
 Another book of the EvangeMs with 
 golden letters is in the convent of St. 
 Emeran, at Regenfburgh : it is on one 
 fide with gilt plate, ornamented with dia* 
 monds; and given by the Emperor Ar- 
 nolphus to the holy Emeran, before he 
 died. It is publicly exhibited in the 
 church of the convent on all holy days. 
 
 In the Imperial library at Vienna, and 
 in the library of the convent of St. Gallen, 
 are the Pfalms of David, written with 
 golden letters. In the laft century, there 
 was, in the library of the Monkhoufe fa- 
 mily, near Schaumbourg, the whole Bible 
 written in golden letters, given to that 
 family by Sophia the Firft, Abbefs of 
 Ganderfheim, daughter of Otto the Second. 
 And in the year 1788, Ettingen, a book- 
 feller of reputation at Gotha, offered for fale 
 E a very 
 
L 56 ] 
 
 a very neat manufcript, containing fome 
 chapters of the Alcoran, written with gold 
 letters, in the Arabic language. - 
 
 The following records are further pre- 
 served. The diploma of Otto the Second, 
 in the archive of the minifter at Gander- 
 iheim. A record of the Emperor Henry 
 the Second, in the bifhopric of Paderborn 
 in Weftphalia. Another of Conrad the 
 Third ; and one of the Emperor Frederick 
 the Firfi; both in the abbey of Corvey. 
 And in the three confirmation bulls, of 
 the privileges of the church of Rome, 
 given by the Emperors Otto the Firft and 
 the Second, and Henry the Saint ; and 
 further, in the marriage compact of the 
 Emperor Otto the Second with Theophania; 
 and in the chart of Lotharius the Second, 
 which he delivered to the Abbot Wiblo * 
 at Stavelot* the gold has not been fpared. 
 
 In the vaults of a deftroyed temple at 
 
 Semipalat, 
 
t 57 ] 
 
 Semipalat*, in Siberia, have been found 
 feveral rolls of blue and black coloured 
 paper, entirely written on, with gold let- 
 ters. They were delivered to the Czar 
 Peter the Great, who could not difcover 
 in his empire one fingle perfon who was 
 able either to read or to tranflate thefe 
 neatly written arid well-preferved manu- 
 fcripts. One of thefe rolls was therefore 
 fent to Paris by Schumacher, librarian of 
 the academy at Mofcow, to the Abbot 
 Bignon, who was in great repute, and 
 was librarian to the King of France, foli- 
 citing him to find out a learned perfon, 
 who was able to ftate in what language 
 the roll had been written, and to develope 
 the contents. The Abbot Bignon mewed 
 it to Fourmont, interpreter to the king, 
 who was faid to be mailer of the Chinefe 
 
 and 
 
 * Semipalat, which is fkuated on the river Upper 
 Irtifch, ftill retains its name, and that from feven palat«s, 
 or apartments, which are there among the ruins. 
 
 E 2 :"*'":*: 
 
[ 5S 1 
 
 and other oriental languages. This bold 
 grammarian, who had never before feen 
 fimilar letters, and relying in full confi- 
 dence on the fame of his great knowledge 
 of the oriental languages, led by vanity, 
 had the impudence to hold out, that he 
 was the only perfon capable of tranflating 
 the writing. He aflerted, it was written 
 in the ancient Tangutian language, and 
 delivered a fictitious tranflation, compofed 
 by his own fancy. Peter the Great, who 
 doubted the correctnefs of the tranflation, 
 neverthelefs made him a very confiderable 
 prefent, and thereby encreafed his fame. 
 But in the reign of the Emprefs Ann, 
 many years after the death of Peter the 
 Great, two Ruffians appeared at the aca- 
 demy of St. Peterlburgh, who, during a 
 refidenee of fixteen years in Pekin, had 
 learned the Chinefe and Mantfchurian lan- 
 guages. They recognized immediately, 
 that the writings of all the rolls were in 
 the Mantchuxian language; they read 
 
 them 
 
L 59 1 
 
 them without hefitation and difficulty; 
 they tranflated feveral, and amongft others 
 the roll, formerly tranflated by the French- 
 man Fourmont. But not a fingle word 
 agreed with his tranflation ; and it was 
 fully afcertained, that Fourmont had been 
 an impoftor, who did not know a fingle 
 letter of the roll. The original rolls are 
 ftill preferred in the academy of fciences 
 at St. Peter(burgh, with both tranflations ; 
 and are, according to Jacob von Stashlein, 
 permitted to be feen by every one who 
 enquires for them. 
 
 Similar rolls of fmoothed blue paper, 
 written in part with golden, and in part 
 with golden and filver letters, with the 
 holy chara&ers of the Tibetans, were in 
 Sloane's library, and marked with the 
 numbers 2836 and 2837. They were 
 found beyond Siberia, in the fouth-eaftern 
 part of Tartary. 
 
 Manu- 
 
[ 60 ] 
 
 Manufcripts written with filver letters 
 are more,fcarce. A few are yet exifting- 
 One of Gregorius Nazianzenus was in the 
 King's library at Paris, wherein all quo- 
 tations from the holy . Scriptures were 
 written with golden letters, and all other 
 parts in filver. The Pfalter of David 
 is in the library at Zurich, written with 
 filver letters on purple-coloured parch- 
 ment in the feventh century : the title 
 is written with golden letters. The ma- 
 nufcript of the Gothic tranflation of the 
 four books of the evangelifts, by the Bifhop 
 Ulphilas, who lived in the year 350, is 
 preferved at the univerfity of Upfal. All 
 the letters are filver, except the capitals, 
 which are gold. According to Mabillon 
 and Gatterer, diplomas written with filver 
 letters are not in exiftence. 
 
 It is of confequence to mankind in 
 general that writings may be preferved ; 
 which depends on the flrength of paper 
 
 and 
 
[ 61 ] 
 
 and parchment, and on fuch a durable 
 black ink, as will not fade by age, nor 
 obliterate in water. Aftle, in his Origin 
 and Progrefs of Writing, fays, "It is an 
 " object of the utmoft importance that 
 " the records of parliament, the decifions 
 " and adjudications of the courts of juf- 
 " tice, conveyances from man to man, 
 " wills, teftaments, and other inftruments, 
 " which affect property, mould be written 
 « with ink of fuch durable quality, as 
 " may beft refill: the deftruclive power 
 f« of time and elements. The neceffity 
 « of paying greater attention to this matter 
 " may be readily feen, by comparing the 
 " rolls and records, which have been writ- 
 " ten from the fifteenth century to the 
 «« end of the feventeenth, with the writings 
 « we have remaining of various ages from 
 " the fifth to the twelfth centuries. Not- 
 « withftanding the fuperior antiquity of 
 m the latter, they are in excellent pre- 
 " fervation; but we frequently find the 
 e 4 " former, 
 
[ 62 ] 
 
 " former, though of modern date, fo 
 
 " much defaced, that they are fcarcely 
 " legible." 
 
 Several experienced chymifts have en- 
 deavoured to difcover a durable black ink, 
 and to prepare paper for lafting writings ; 
 which induces me to acquaint the pub- 
 lick with their procelTes. Lambert recom- 
 mends " to pound the gall-nuts in an 
 " iron mortar to very fine powder, and 
 " to pour three or four times its quan- 
 « tity of water on it; to let it remain 
 " eight or ten days in the fun, or to 
 " boil it for half an hour or longer, ac- 
 ?« cording to the quantity. To diuolve 
 " iron-vitriol, to be ftrained and added 
 « to the diffolution of galls, till the ink 
 " attains the defired black colour. Too 
 " fmall a quantity of vitriol produces a 
 " brown reddifh colour; if more be added, 
 " a violet ; then a black hue, and at laft 
 " a dark black. If the colour of the 
 
 " ink 
 
[ «s ] 
 
 " ink be not fufficiently dark, he re- 
 ** commends to thicken it by boiling, and 
 * 6 then to add gum in fuch a quantity 
 tfe that the ink may be neither too fluid 
 *' nor too tough. " The ink is always of a 
 fuperior quality, if made fufficiently aqueous 
 when prepared, becaufe by adding water 
 a portion of the fine black particles will 
 precipitate. Lambert defines not the 
 quantity of the ingredients, and they are 
 not always of the fame quality. Lewis 
 propofes to take three ounces of galls 
 to one ounce of iron-vitriol ; but Lambert 
 recommends to take lefs vitriol, to prevent 
 the paper from turning yellow. Experi- 
 ence proves daily, that with one and the 
 fame ink written on different paper, dif- 
 ferent ftiad'es of black are produced ; and 
 this muft originate in the lime and glue 
 ufed in the paper-mill, or if the paper 
 or rag has been bleached by a chymical 
 procefs. An ink which as far as it pof« 
 fibly can be done retains its dark colour 
 
 on 
 
[ ™ 3 
 
 on every kind of paper, is the moft pre- 
 ferable. 
 
 Auguftus Lewis Pfannenfmith in Ha- 
 nover has invented a black ink, which, 
 by trial, is found to be fuperior to all 
 others: it is different from all other inks 
 hitherto known, becaufe, 
 
 1. It is entirely made from fuch pro- 
 ductions of the country, as can be pro- 
 cured abundantly and cheap, without 
 ufing galls and gum. 
 
 2. The writing done with this ink 
 cannot be deftroyed, by oil of vitriol, 
 fpirit of fait, fpirit of nitre, fait of lemon, 
 fait of forrel; nor by any alkalies, which 
 can only alter its colour in a fmall de- 
 
 . gree, either yellowim or reddifh. 
 
 3. The writings with this ink alter no* 
 by time, or if expofed to the air and heat 
 of the fun, 
 
 4. It 
 
[ « ] 
 
 4. It can be prepared like the Chinefe 
 ink in dry cakes, and is therefore conve- 
 nient for exportation and travellers. 
 
 It's preparation is as follows : " One 
 <e peck of foot, and one and a half peck 
 " of wood-afties, is to be boiled with four 
 " or five pails of foft water, whereby the 
 " alkaline falts extracted from the afhes 
 " dhTolve all thofe parts of the foot 
 " which are capable of diffolution. This 
 " is poured altogether into an empty 
 " hogihead, and filled up with water ; it 
 " muft remain there for twenty-four 
 " hours, conftantly ftirring the clear li- 
 " quid, which is of a brown colour ; it is 
 " then drawn into another cafk of the 
 " fame fize. About thirty or forty pounds 
 " of oak bark, with four or five pounds - 
 " of Brazil wood fiiavings*, are to be 
 " boiled during three or four hours with 
 " as much water as is fufficient to cover 
 
 tl the 
 
 .* This wood is not abfolutely neceflary. 
 
[ 66 ] 
 
 " the ingredients. The extract is to be 
 " filtered through a cloth, and put into 
 " another veflel. Six pounds of iron of 
 " vitriol is to be dhTolved in fix pounds of 
 w foft water. To this dilfblution is to be 
 w added a pail full of cold water, and put 
 " into the calk which contains the brown 
 *' liquid. The alkaline falts extracted 
 " from the afhes which were neeeflary 
 " to diffolve the foot, and from the eX- 
 " tracked vitriolic acids, mix with the 
 <c water ; and the diliblved parts of the 
 " foot, the iron and earthy parts of the 
 u vitriol, with the colour and gum ex- 
 " tracked from the oak bark and Brazil 
 * wood lhavings, form a mixed precipitate. 
 " It is therefore required to feparate the 
 " alkaline lie from the acid, which is 
 M accomplifhed by adding as much clean 
 " water as is required to fill the hoglhead. 
 " It muft be well flirred, and left three 
 « 6 or four days to fettle, in which time 
 " the united precipitate is fettled at the 
 
 " bottom. 
 
[ «. ] 
 
 * e bottom. The clean water on the top 
 " mull then be drawn off, and thrown 
 " away. The cafk is then to be filled 
 *' again with frelh water, fo far as to 
 " receive one pail full of water more. In 
 66 the pail with water required to fill the 
 " cafk, twelve ounces of iron-vitriol is to 
 " be diflblved, which is ftirred and 
 " poured into the hogfhead. The laft 
 " procefs is neceflary to facilitate the 
 " fecond precipitation, which is otherwife 
 " more difficult than at the firft time. 
 " Within two days it is again fettled; 
 " the water is then to be drawn off from 
 " the top. A wooden frame mufl: be pre- 
 u pared, on which is flackly to be faftened 
 M a piece of half-bleached fine linen cloth; 
 ** the frame mull: then be placed on fup- 
 u porters as horizontally as poffibly can 
 *' be done, and a pail full of the preci- 
 '* pitated colour is then flowly to be poured 
 '* upon the ftraining cloth. Some coloured 
 u liquid will at firft run through, which 
 
 " muft 
 
[ 68 ] 
 
 M muft be faved, but the clear water which 
 1* comes afterwards is to be fufFered to run 
 f away ; then continue to add more of the 
 precipitate, as much as the ftrainer will 
 hold, and only clear water will drain off. 
 " Within two or three days the colour 
 *f appears on the cloth, refembling pap, 
 " which is to be taken off, and well ftirred 
 " with a few pails full of clean water in 
 " a wooden tub, and again poured into 
 " the hogfhead, which is again to be rilled 
 " with clean water, and twelve ounces of 
 f* iron-vitriol added in the fame manner 
 « as heretofore defcribed. The whole is 
 " then ftirred, time is given to precipitate, 
 " and the colour drained on the frame. 
 " The reafon, why (throughout the whole 
 " of this procefs) it is prefcribed to ufe re* 
 " peatedly fuch a large quantity of water, 
 " is to clean the diffolved foot as much as 
 " poflible, and to obtain the united preci-- 
 4< pitate from the extract of the oak-bark 
 " and the iron-vitriol in the fineft ftate, 
 
 «* which 
 
[ 69 ] 
 
 c< which principally contributes to the 
 «' durability of this ink, and imprefles 
 " deeper into the interfaces of the 
 " paper. The repeated adding and draw- 
 ** ing off of the water is neceflary to 
 " carry off the vitriolic acid as much as 
 " 'poffibly can be done. Now, for the 
 " laft time, take the ink-pap from the 
 * 6 frame and add an alkaline-lie, "prepared of 
 u two pounds or two pounds and an half of 
 " American pot afti, diflblved in the fame 
 *' weight of water, and fix ounces of com- 
 " mon fait diflblved in water, which is to 
 " be heated altogether in a boiler, con- 
 " ftantly ftirring it. If to this is added 
 " fix quarts of malt- vinegar, well ftirred, 
 " a very durable and good ink is obtained. 
 " The llimy parts of the vinegar are of 
 ** ufe in this preparation. Should it happen 
 " that the ink prepared in this manner 
 <c should turn out of a yellowifh shade, 
 " the foot has been of too rich a colour, 
 *' and there should have been taken lefs 
 
 " in 
 
[ 70 ] 
 
 '* in proportion to the colour extracted 
 " from the oak-bark. The laft directed 
 " ufe of pot afh, which in the firft part 
 u of the procefs has been prefcribed to 
 " detach, ferves now to dhTolve again all 
 u the parts of the foot yet remaining in 
 " the mixed precipitate, and thereby to 
 ** give the ink a greater power to imprefs 
 " into the paper; and to promote the 
 " durability of the colour, ferving at the 
 " fame time as gum. To form this ink 
 " into cakes, a number of flat ftones 
 <c mould be placed in fuch a manner, 
 " that they may be eafily heated. Some 
 " of the ink is to be poured thereupon ; 
 ?? and when evaporated more is to be 
 " added, conftantly ftirring until formed 
 <c like a pafte, which is to be taken from 
 " the ftone plates, and laid on a warm 
 P place, till fufficiently dried. If wanted 
 " for ufe the cakes are to be pulverized, 
 *« and converted into good ink, by the addi- 
 " tion of fome boiling water." 
 
 To 
 
[ 71 ] 
 
 To prepare paper for lafting writings 
 is a valuable addition in the art of mak- 
 ing paper; and the new manufactory, 
 now building at Millbank, for manufac- 
 turing paper from ftraw and other vege- 
 tables, will be fhortly in a ftate to provide 
 the publick fufficiently with paper exprefsly 
 manufactured for that purpofe. 
 
 As perhaps the patience of the reader 
 may be tired with the long but necefiary 
 procefs of making an everlafting black ink, 
 X join for his recreation receipts for mak- 
 ing the beft and moft lafting coloured inks. 
 
 For Red Ink: — Take four ounces per- 
 nambuco wood fhavings of the beft quality, 
 boil it with half an ounce of alum in a 
 quart of rain water, during one hour; 
 when ftrained, add a little gum Arabic. 
 
 In the fame manner different coloured 
 inks can be made from all known dyeing 
 
 f woods. 
 
[ 1* ] 
 
 woods. Yellow-wood will produce yellow 
 ink; Brazil-wood, violet ink, &c. But 
 all inks made from dyeing wood will be 
 more beautiful and lading, if a fmall 
 diflblution of tin is added to it, which 
 is to be prepared as follows: diflblve in 
 four ounces of the ftrongeft oil of vitriol, 
 half an ounce of fal armoniac, and as 
 much tin as will diflblve; or mix fpiritus 
 falis with fpiritus nitri, and diflblve in it 
 as much tin fhavings as will diflblve, if 
 it even fhould take up two or three 
 days, which folution, if kept in a glafs 
 phial, will laft many years. All inks made 
 from boiled dyeing wood may be mixed, 
 and thereby obtain numerous fhades of 
 different beautiful colours : but care rauft 
 be taken never to ufe in thefe inks a 
 pen dipped in black ink, becaufe the par- 
 ticles of iron, which are a property of 
 black ink, will fpoil all other coloured 
 inks. 
 
 For 
 
[ " 1 
 
 For Green Ink:— Pound three ounces 
 of verdigreafe and two ounces of white 
 tartar in fixteen ounces of water for twelve 
 or fifteen minutes ; when (trained add two 
 ounces of gum Arabic. 
 
 For Blue Ink of the greateft beauty 
 and durability : — Pound two ounces of the 
 beft Pruflian blue (Berlin blue), and pour 
 on it two ounces of fpirit of fait, mixed 
 with two ounces of water: keep it milk- 
 warm, and ftir it till the blue is diflblved, 
 which will take place in three or four 
 hours. The veffel muft not be too fmall, 
 becaufe the mixture will at firft ferment 
 and rife. It is afterwards attenuated with 
 more or lefs water, according to the made 
 of blue you wifti to have. No gum 
 Arabic is to be added. 
 
 The diplomatics name, befides metals, 
 five other materials, ufed for the impref- 
 fion of feals, and for fealing letters apd 
 f 2 other 
 
[ 7* ] 
 
 other things, to wit, terra Jigillata, putty, 
 pafte, wax, and fealing-wax. 
 
 • Notwithstanding Pliny denies that feals 
 have been ufed by the ancient Egyptians, 
 it is neverthelefs proved that they were 
 well acquainted with the ufe of the 
 terra figillata; which was, according to 
 Herodotus, the firft fluff employed for 
 that purpofe. He fays, that, the Egyptian 
 priefts bound on the horns of the animals 
 felected for immolation, a piece of paper, 
 on which they imprefled theV feals on 
 terra figillata, and thofe animals marked 
 in that manner could only be taken for 
 facrifices. Mofes mentions likewife the 
 feal-ring of Pharaoh. Lucian fays that 
 all perfons who went to fortune-tellers, 
 were obliged to write the queries on a 
 ticket, which mult be folded up and fealed 
 with wax or terra figillata. Cicero, Ser- 
 vius, and others fay that the fame has 
 been ufed- by the ancients; and it feems 
 
 that 
 
[ 75 ] 
 
 that the fame earth has been ufed for 
 fealing by the Byzantine Emperors, be- 
 caufe fome perfon attempted to defend 
 the wormipping of images, by ftating, that 
 no perfon . who received a command from 
 the Emperor, and kifled the feal, did it 
 to mew veneration to the parchment, the 
 lead, or the terra figilteta, but to mew his 
 refpecT: to the Emperor. 
 
 The earth which is now by us named 
 chalk, cannot have been the creta of the 
 ancients, which they ufed for fealing, it 
 muft have been of the clay kind, which 
 only takes impremons, and retains the 
 fame when hardened by drying. That 
 the Latins have often 'exprefled a kind 
 of clay by the name of creta has been 
 proved by Columella, Virgil, Varro and 
 others. 
 
 Wax has been ufed for fealing in the 
 moft ancient times in Europe ; but whether 
 f 3 white 
 
[ ™ ] 
 
 white or yellow was firft ufed is a 
 point on which the diplomatics differ. 
 Gatterer fays that the wax which was firft 
 ufed for fealing was white, but Beck- 
 man declares that the yellow was the firft 
 and generally ufed, at leaft by private per- 
 fons, being the cheapeft; and I cannot 
 help deciding in his favour, becaufe the 
 progrefs of arts was very flow in ancient 
 times, which induces me to believe that 
 many years paffed before the art of bleach- 
 ing wax was difcovered. After it was 
 found out that the yellow colour of wax 
 could be converted into white, it was 
 foon coloured red ; but green and yellow 
 wax was not known in Germany before- 
 the fourteenth century. 
 
 That the Conftantinopolitan patriarchs, 
 the high-mafter of the Teutonic-order, 
 the grand-matter of the knights of Malta, 
 and fome of the firft nobility, ufed the 
 black colour for their feals, is, according 
 , i to 
 
[ n ] 
 
 to Gatterer, Thulemarius, Heineccius, and 
 Hanfelman well known; but, that the 
 mailers of the Templars ufed the fame 
 colour for fealing, we are informed of 
 folely by Dr. Chriftopher Smith, otherwife 
 Phifeldek, who ftates, that there is pre- 
 ferved in the archives of the Duke of 
 Brunfwic at Wolfenbuttle, a document, 
 written by Mafter Widekind on parch- 
 ment, on which hangs a black feal on 
 blue and white linen thread. 
 
 Blue fealing wax was unknown in former 
 times, notwithstanding it is ftated by 
 Struvius, that the Emperor Frederick the 
 Third granted Hans Schenk, Lord at 
 Tuutenberg; and by Heineccius, that the 
 Emperor Charles the Fifth granted in 1524 
 Dr. Stockhammer in Nuremberg, the pri- 
 vilege to ufe blue wax for their feals. 
 We may fay, that the art of dyeing wax 
 blue, is ftill a fecret. No receipt for 
 making it is to be found in any ancient 
 F ^ work; 
 
I 78 ] 
 
 work ; and the receipts given by modem 
 authors, by Le Pileur d'Apligny and 
 others, produce no blue, but a dirty 
 colour, which is neither green nor blue. 
 The coloured juices, when united with 
 wax, make it more greenifh than blue; 
 and if mineral-earths are ufed, they will 
 not unite with Wax, and fettle at the 
 bottom. If therefore a feal of blue wax 
 could be produced, of which the external 
 part has not been coloured, fuch a curi- 
 ofity would puzzle the technologies and 
 diplomatics, and be a problem for our 
 chymifts. The privileges which have been 
 given to Schenk k and Stockhammer are 
 therefore fimilar to other privileges which 
 have been granted in the year 1704 to 
 the county of Reinftein and the princi- 
 pality of Halberftadt, not only to work in 
 their mines minerals, but likewife indigo. 
 By thefe privileges the Lord and Doaor 
 could find as much blue wax, as the 
 others could melt indigo from oar found 
 
 in 
 
C 1* ] 
 
 in their mines. Neverthelefs, Beckman 
 does not give up the hope, that the art 
 of dying wax blue will yet be discovered, 
 although all trials have hitherto been un« 
 fuccefeful. 
 
 The ufe of wafers is more modern 
 than the ufe of feals;' and no ancient 
 diploma is to be found fealed with wafers. 
 The moll: ancient is not two hundred years 
 old. Spiefz could not difcover any one 
 older than of the year 1624; but Martin 
 - Schwartner found, in the univerfity library 
 at Peft, three fomewhat older; one is a 
 paflport, given by Father Vifitator to three 
 travelling Jefuits, dated Bruffels. 1603; 
 the impreffion on the Wafers is the ufual 
 inscription on the Jefuit feak 
 
 Pafte has been ufed for fealing letters 
 before the difcovery of fealing-wax. Some 
 learned men tell us of a feal-putty, named 
 maltha, manufactured from combuftible and 
 
 rifing 
 
[ 80 ] 
 
 rifing compofitions. If this affertion is 
 founded on truth, it has been the firft 
 and moft ancient fealing-wax. The fealing- 
 wax now in ufe is compofed of fimilar 
 materials, and has fuperfeded all ancient 
 fealing matters by its cheapnefs, conve- 
 nience, and beautiful appearance, not- 
 withstanding its brittlenefs, and that an 
 impreflion on it can be eafily forged. 
 
 The moft ancient mention of fealing- 
 wax in books is found in Garcia ab orto 
 aromatum 3C fimplicium aliquot hijloria, 
 printed in 1563, where by gum-lac the 
 flicks for fealing letters are noticed. In 
 JSfouveau Traite de Diplom. t. iv. p. S3, is 
 ftated, that Francis Roufleau, a Frenchman, 
 was the inventor in 1640. It is faid that 
 Roufleau, after many years refidence in 
 Perfia and India, returned to France, where 
 he loft all his property by fire, in the latter 
 part of the reign of Lewis the Thirteenth, 
 and then eftablilhed a manufactory for 
 
 making 
 
[ 81 ] 
 
 making fealing-wax from gum-lac*, which 
 he had learned in India. But this French- 
 man is not intitled to the invention, which 
 has been already ufed between the years 
 1550 and 1560, as can be proved by let- 
 ters fealed with black and red fealing-wax 
 preferved lince 1554 in the archives at 
 Dillenburgh. Spiefz ftates, that there is 
 one on a diploma of 1563 in Anfpach; 
 and Anton has feen in Goerlitz one of 
 1561 fealed with red fealing-wax ; and 
 another of 1620, with black fealing-wax, 
 
 Tavernier 
 
 * The infefl which produces the gum-lac is a red 
 fhield-loufe, coccus lacca, not yet defcribed in any 
 natural hiftory known to me. It flicks fall to the 
 branches of the ticus religiofa, indica, rhamnus jujuba, 
 plafo hort. malab., and foon appears on the edge of the 
 body a demi-tranfparent glue-like humidity, which 
 fhortly forms a complete cell. Thefe cells are the 
 gum- lac. The white fubftances which are found in 
 the empty cells are the flriped hides of the young 
 infefts. It is plentiful on both fhores of the river 
 Ganges ; and one hundred weight has formerly been 
 fold at Dacca for twelve pounds. The moft preferred 
 is dark red. The inhabitants of thefe countries make 
 rings and beads of gum-lac, Hvhich they gild and paint, 
 to ornament the fingers and arms of their wives. 
 
[ 82 ] 
 
 Tavernief mentions the preparation of 
 fealing-wax in the Eaft Indies; and it is 
 probable that the Portuguefe learned' the 
 art of making fealing-wax in the oriental 
 countries. Its flrft name has been Spanilh 
 wax, and the French ftill call it cirs 
 cTEfpagne; and it feems that it got the 
 name of fealing-wax finee gum-lac has 
 been ufed in place, of common rofin. 
 Without gum-lac no fealing-wax can ftick 
 to , well-nzed and glazed paper. 
 
 Copyifts, illuminators, and book-painters, 
 had full employ before the art of printing 
 was invented; but fo much has been 
 written and printed on this, that it would 
 be ufelefs" to notice it in this work ; and 
 there are fo many nominations of .the 
 ancient writers, that the ftatement of it 
 alone would fill a bopk. Whoever wifhes 
 to be convinced of this, has only to exa- 
 mine Hermanus Hugo de prima fcribendi 
 erigine, and the Brunfwic Notices of 1750; 
 
 and 
 
[ 83 ] 
 
 and for modern times, full information is 
 to be obtained from Mafley's Origin and 
 Progrefs of Letters. I mall therefore only 
 notice the names given to the principal 
 writers. 
 
 All copyifts were named by the Romans 
 Zibrarii, and fometimes fcribis, Bibliopolac 
 were perfons who kept a number of Ser- 
 vants to write down their own works and 
 dictations, and copied the works of others. 
 Calligraphi were fair hand writers. Tacky- 
 graph^ >quick hand writers, and fometimes 
 ihort hand writers ; they were likewife 
 named exceptores. Secret writings were 
 defcribed by kryptographi or Jlegattographi. 
 The Turks call fecret writings felam. 
 Monks replaced afterwards the librariorum. 
 Remarks written on the edges of manu- 
 scripts were called glojfemata. Examvnantes 
 were perfons who overlooked the works of 
 the copyifts, to which they %ned their 
 names. The art of printing here mews 
 
 its 
 
[ M ] 
 
 its great fiiperiority, becaufe all copies are 
 the fame as the firft, Illuminatores painted 
 fome letters and other 1 ornaments of 
 books. 
 
 Of the noble invention of printing*, I 
 likewife pafs, and continue with making 
 fome few obfervations on books and book- 
 binding, and on their being fo much 
 expofed to be deftroyed by moths and 
 worms. 
 
 The ancients, according to Pliny, ufed 
 to preferve their parchment, paper, and 
 books from moths, by warning them over 
 with cedar or citron oil, which gave them 
 at the fame time' an agreeable fcent. 
 Thefe books were named libri cedrati or 
 citrati. He believes that the prefervation 
 
 of 
 
 * * It is furprifing that the art of printing books was 
 'not earlier invented, as it is well known that the Ro- 
 mans were in the habit of ftamping the initials of their 
 names on the bread which they fent to the publick ovens 
 for baking, which is certainty, a kind of printing. 
 
[ 85 ] 
 
 of the books found in the grave of Numa 
 was folely attributed to this precaution. 
 In modern times, many prefervatives for 
 books againft deftructive infects have been 
 propofed, but none have yet been effec- 
 tive. The Royal Society of Sciences at 
 Gottirtgen thought it therefore of fuffi- 
 cient confequence to propofe in their 
 affembly at the 10th July, 1773, a pre- 
 mium for July 1774, to be given him 
 who delivered the beft anfwer to the 
 following queftion: How many kind of 
 infects are found which are detrimental 
 to records and books? which of the mate- 
 rials, as pap, glue, leather, wood, thread, 
 paper, &c. were attacked by each kind ? and, 
 which is the beft and moft approved remedy, 
 either to preferve records and books againft 
 Infects, or to deftroy the infects? 
 
 Among the numerous anfwers received, 
 Dr. Herman of Strafburgh obtained the 
 premium, and Flad of Heidelbergh got 
 
 ^ the 
 
[ *« ] 
 
 the accejjit, f will give an abridged ex- 
 tract of their anfwers. Many infects are 
 charged with injuring books without doing 
 mifchief, fuch are: acarus, cimex perfonatus, 
 lepifma faccharina, tinea vejlianella, tinea 
 pellionella, tinea far citella, attelabus mollis, 
 attelabus formicarins, and attelabus apiarius ; 
 of the following it is not yet fully afcer- 
 tained if they are guilty or innocent ; 
 1. termes pulfatorium named alfo the fmall 
 pumice, the timberfow, the book-loufe, and 
 the paper- loufe ; 2. phalangium cancroides; 
 3. blatta orientalis; 4. ptinus fur ; 5. tent- 
 brio molitor; and 6. phalaena 9 or tenia gra- 
 nella. The truly deftru&ive infe&s are, 
 ptinus per -tinax, demefies paniceus, dermejies 
 lardatius, dermejies pellio, and byrrhus mu~ 
 faeorum. To preferve the records and books 
 againft infects and to deftroy them, it is 
 propofed 1. to abolifh the binding books 
 with any wood ; 2. to recommend the 
 bookbinder to ufe glue mixed with alum 
 in place of pafte ; 3. to brum all worm- 
 eaten 
 
[ 87 ] 
 
 eaten wood in the repofitories of books 
 with oil or lac-varnim ; 4. to preferve 
 books bound in calf, he recommends to 
 bruui them over with thin lac-varnim ; 
 5. nq book to lay flat; 6\ paper, letters, 
 documents, &c. may be preferred in draw- 
 ers without any danger, provided the wafers 
 are cut out, and that no pafte, &c. is be- 
 tween , them; 7, the bookbinder is not to 
 ufe any woollen cloth, and to wax the 
 thread ; 8. to air and duft the books often ; 
 
 to ufe laths, feparated one from the 
 other one inch, in place of ftielves; 10. to 
 brum over the infides of book-cafes and the 
 laths with lac-varnim. 
 
 The paper in North America is fpeedily 
 deftroyed by dampnefs and infers, which, 
 on the fuggeftion of an honorary member, 
 Mr. Francois at Neufchatel, induced the 
 Society of Sciences at Philadelphia, in 
 their AiTembly of the 11th May 1785 
 to offer a premium for the beft anfwer 
 G on 
 
[ 88 ] 
 
 on the queftion : if there was no effectual 
 remedy to protect paper againft infects ? 
 This fociety offered another premium of 
 twenty-five moid ores for the beft method 
 of making paper for St. Domingo, which 
 would refill infects, and requefted to have 
 famples to prove its quality. Several art- 
 fwers and famples were received, but all 
 recommended to mix the fize, on fizing, 
 with lharp and bitter, or other ingredients 
 which might kill the infects, to wit, 
 vinegar, allum, vitriol, fait, turpentine, 
 extract of aloes, tobacco, or wormwood ; 
 camphor, afafcetida caftoreum, and arfenic, 
 either [to be ufed in the fize, or after- 
 wards impregnated by infufion. But thefe 
 remedies were all reje&ed, and confidered 
 to be either inefficient, or pernicious and 
 dangerous; for which reafon, the fociety 
 renewed their offer, without limiting their 
 anfwer to a precife time, but without any 
 fatisfaaion, except that Mr. Arthaud, 
 Royal Phyfician at Cape Francois, named 
 
 the 
 
.[ 89 1 
 
 the infers which were the moft deftructive 
 to paper in thefe countries : dermeftes fcu- 
 teilatus, nigro teftaceus, ovatus, glaber, clytris 
 thorace pundlis imprejfis, oculis nigris punftatis, 
 antennis curvatis, apice articulis tribus per- 
 foliatis compreffis, which generates in all 
 feafons during the whole year, and is con- 
 fidered as the moft dangerous of all paper- 
 eaters. 
 
 To prepare paper for prefervation 
 againft infects, is likewife an object to 
 which fome of the proprietors of the new 
 manufactory now building at Millbank 
 have paid particular attention ; and they 
 flatter themfelves they will likewife be 
 able to bring to fale, and to lay before 
 the examination of fcientific men, and 
 the publick at large, paper, in this view 
 much fuperior to any other heretofore 
 manufactured. 
 
 Paper is likewife ufed for filtring; and 
 G z that 
 
t 90 ] 
 
 that now employed for that purpofe is the 
 common blotting paper, which is very 
 tender, the publick are therefore herewith 
 informed that this inconvenience is like- 
 wife remedied, and at the Neckinger-mill 
 is now manufacturing a paper, fupenor to 
 any other, in ftrength and durability, for 
 the purpofe of filtring, and fold by the 
 bundle, or two reams, for a moderate 
 price; which paper has been examined, 
 tried, and approved of by Dr. Crichton 
 and other experienced chymifts. 
 
 I finifh now thefe accounts and obfer- 
 nations which ! thought proper to add 
 to this work, and I proceed with the 
 historical account of the fubftances which 
 have been ufed to defcribe events, and 
 to convey ideas, from the earlieft date to 
 the invention of paper. 
 
 In the moll ancient time, when writing 
 was not yet dilcovered, very fimple means 
 
 were 
 
r 1 
 
 were ufed to preferve the remembrance of 
 important events. Tradition reprefented, 
 therefore, during many centuries, what 
 now is more completely effected , by wri- 
 ting and printing. Trees were planted* 
 heaps of ftone, or unornamented altars and 
 pillars, were erected, plays and feftivals 
 were ordered, and fongs fung to keep up 
 the recollection of paft facts. The facred 
 hiftory mentions, that the Patriarchs erected 
 altars or heaps of ftones as emembrances 
 of paft events. 
 
 Rough ftones and flakes were* the firft 
 reminding letters of the Phoenicians. In 
 the environs of Cadiz, feveral heaps of 
 ftones have been found; monuments of 
 Hercules's expedition againft Spain. The 
 'ancient inhabitants of the North placed, 
 in different filiations, ftones of an extraor- 
 dinary large fize, to remember great events. 
 And we have found, in modern times, that 
 the favages in America do the fame ; and 
 G 3 fomft 
 
[ 92 ] 
 
 fome place bows on -the tombs of men, 
 and mortars with peftles on the tombs of 
 women. It has been likewife a cuftom to 
 give names to certain places, and their 
 environs, which referred to the tranfa&ions 
 and deeds which there took place. 
 
 Since the art of writing was invented, 
 feveral materials have "been ufed, on which 
 was engraved or written what was wifhed 
 to be conveyed to pofterity. But nothing 
 pofitive can be afcertained with refpecl 
 to the different materials employed by the 
 ancients for that purpofe, except that a 
 diftincHon has been made between public 
 records and private writings. For the firft; 
 ftones, timber, and metals, were chiefly 
 ufed; and, for the latter, leaves and bark 
 of trees. The Egyptians, the inhabitants 
 of the Northern countries, and feveral 
 others, made ufe of ftones, rocks, and pil- 
 lars, for that purpofe. 
 
 Job 
 
t 93 ] 
 
 Job mentions rocks as the materials ufed 
 In his time; and the Danes engraved like- 
 wife upon rocks the deeds of their anceftors. 
 
 Jofephus has related, that the children 
 of Seth had, before the deluge, ereded 
 two pillars, and thereupon engraved their 
 inventions and aftronomical difcoveries, the 
 one of which was of ftone, and the other 
 of brick-clay, becaufe they had heard, 
 from their grandfather, Adam, that the 
 world would be deftroyed once by fire, 
 and once by water ; and, to prevent their 
 knowledge of the motion of planets, &c. 
 being loft to pofterity, they had engraved 
 it on the before-mentioned pillars, the 
 one of which could not be deftroyed by 
 water, nor the other by fire ; and the fame 
 author ftates, that the fame pillar of ftone 
 exifted ftill, in his time, in the country 
 of Siriad. But where that country was 
 fituated is very difficult to afcertain ; fome 
 fay in Syria. Madham, Vofz, and others, 
 g 4 aflert 
 
[ m ] 
 
 affert it to be Seirath, mentioned in the 
 Scripture, (Judges, chap. iii. ver. 20); the 
 moft likely fuppofition feems to be, accor- 
 ding to Dodwell, Stillingfleet, and Fabricius, 
 that it was fituated in Egypt. 
 
 Thefe pillars bring Into recolleaion others 
 more celebrated, ere&ed by Bacchus, Her- 
 cules, Ofiris, and Sefoftris, to commemo- 
 rate their exploits. But the moft famous 
 were * the pillars of Mercury Trifmegiftus, 
 on which his doctrines' and rules were 
 engraved with hieroglyphic characters. 
 Porphyrius mentions fome pillars in the 
 Ifland of Crete, on which the facrificial 
 fervice of Cybeles, and the religious rites 
 were engraved; and, at the time of De- 
 mofthenes, there was ftill a column of 
 Hone exifting, on which the code of laws 
 was engraved. Numerous other pillars 
 could be mentioned, but it is fufficiently 
 afcertained, that the moft ancient nations 
 were not acquainted with any other me- 
 thod 
 
t 95 ] 
 
 thod of keeping in remembrance their 
 code of laws, a&s and contracts, the hif- 
 tory of events, and important xHfcoveries; 
 and thefe public records have been the 
 fources of knowledge of the ancient au* t 
 thors. 
 
 It was likewife a cuftom to write on 
 bricks, and Hone plates, principally to 
 immortalize laws, inftitutions, and impor- 
 tant events. 
 
 The Babylonians, according to Pliny, 
 wrote their firft aftronomical obfervations 
 on bricks, and the Oftracifm* of the Athe- 
 nians 
 
 * The Oftracifm was invented by the Athenians 
 when they became jealous of Ariftides, who at firft 
 Was loved and refpe&ed, and received for his furname 
 the Juft. But elevated with vi&ories, they thought 
 themfelves capable of every thing, and were uneafy 
 to fee a fellow-citizen raifed to fuch extraordinary 
 honour and diftinftion ; they aflembled at Athens 
 from all towns in Attica, and banilhed Ariftides by 
 the Oftracifm ; difguifing their envy of his chara&er 
 
 under 
 
[ a6 .1 
 
 nians was fometimes infcribed on oilier- 
 
 fhells* 
 
 under the fpecious pretence of guarding againft tyranny. 
 The Oftracifm was conduced in the following manner : 
 every citizen took a piece of a broken pot, or a {hell, on 
 which he wrote the name of the perfon he wanted to 
 have banifiied, and carried it to a part of the market- 
 place that was enclofed with wooden rails ; the magif- 
 trates then counted the number of the fliells, and pieces 
 of broken pots ; and if it did not amount to fix thou- 
 fand, the Oftracifm Hood for nothing; if it did, they 
 forted them, and the perfon whofe name was found on 
 the greateft number, was declared an exile for ten years, 
 but with permiflion to enjoy his eftate. 
 
 At the time that Ariftides was banifhed, when the 
 people were inscribing the names on the (hells, and pieces 
 of broken pots, it is reported that an illiterate burgher 
 came to Ariftides, whom he took for fome ordinary 
 perfon, and giving him his (hell, defired him to write 
 Ariftides upon it. The good man, furprifed at the 
 adventure, afked him " Whether Ariftides had ever 
 " injured him?" " No," faid he; 41 nor do I even 
 " know him ; but it vexes me to hear him conftantly 
 " praifed, and every where called the Jujl." Arif- 
 tides made no anfwer, but took the fhell ; and having 
 written his own name upon it, returned it to the man. 
 Thus was the man rewarded who was the deliverer of 
 Athens, and had by uprightnefs and juftice fo greatly 
 contributed to its happinefs, When he quitted Athens, 
 he lifted up his hands towards heaven, and, agreeably 
 to his character, made a prayer different from that of 
 
 Achilles, 
 
[ M ] 
 
 fhells, and in general on the fragments of 
 broken pots. 
 
 The moft ancient monuments of Chinefe 
 knowledge were engraved on hard and 
 large ftones. The ten commandments 
 were written on ftone or marble plates; 
 which feems more likely than as is fup- 
 pofed by fome fanciful writers, who, to 
 dignify thofe tables, hold out, that they 
 were made of precious ftones, rubies, car- 
 buncles, or amethyfts ; but as nothing of 
 this appears in the facred original, it is 
 more probable that they were of fuch 
 
 ftones 
 
 Achilles, namely, " That the people of Athens might 
 " never fee the day which mould force them to remem- 
 " bet Ariftides." Three years after, the Athenians 
 reverfed this decree, and by a public ordinance recalled 
 all the exiles. The principal inducement was their 
 fear of Ariftides ; for they were apprehenfive that he 
 might join the enemy, corrupt great part of the citizens, 
 and draw them over to the intereft of the enemy. But 
 they little knew the worthy man; for, before this ordi- 
 nance of theirs, he had been exciting and encouraging 
 the Greeks to defend their liberty. 
 
[ 98 ] 
 
 Hones as were found at the fpot, which 
 might be moft likely marble, being abun- 
 dant in Egypt, and which were hewn* 
 and poliftied, by the hand, or direction of 
 Mofes. Jofliua wrote the other laws on 
 plates of the fame kind, and the names 
 of the twelve Jewifh. tribes were carved 
 on precious ftones on the ephod of the 
 high prieft. The inscriptions on Mount 
 Sinai, and the furrouhding mountains, ought 
 to be noticed here, if their antiquity could 
 be afcertained. The hieroglyphics of the 
 Egyptians, who boafted to be the mofl 
 ancient of all nations, are chiefly found 
 on obelilks, Hone pillars,, &c. and the de- 
 crees of Lycurgus were carved in ftone. 
 A very ancient Grecian fuperfcription on 
 ftqne is exifting on the weft borders of 
 Alia Minor, where the Mitylenians have 
 built the city of Sigium, from the ga- 
 thered ftones of the city of Troy. This 
 city was deftroyed long ago by the llien- 
 fians; the ftone ftill lies in the village of 
 
 Ieni- 
 
[ 99 ] 
 
 I^ni-Hiffary, called, by the Turks, Gaurkioi, 
 before the porch of the Greek church, 
 and is ufed for a feat. The infcription on 
 this ftone is now upwards of 2360 years 
 eld. William Sherard, Efq. Britifh Conful 
 at Smyrna, took the firft copy of it; and 
 Samuel Lifle, preacher to the Englilh re* 
 iiding at Smyrna, copied it carefully, and 
 it was afterwards engraved and printed in 
 London, on nine meets, by his Majefty's 
 chaplain, Edmund Chiihull, with explana- 
 tions, in the year 1721. Stili more ancient 
 inferiptiohs at Amyclae, .have been 
 difcavered, and publifhed by Fourmont 
 and Barthemely. They are written 
 in the fame manner as thofe of Sigeum, 
 refembling plough-furrows, but they go 
 from the right to the left, and were 
 preferved in the Royal Cabinet, at Paris. 
 Numerous other ancient inscriptions on 
 Hone are found commemorated in Carften 
 Niebuhr's Travels in Arabia. The conven- 
 tion of the Smyrnans and Magnefians was 
 
 , engraved 
 
[ ioo ] 
 
 engraved on marble 270 years before 
 the birth of Chrift, and the Jus Publicum 
 of the Athenians was engraved on trian- 
 gular ftones named Cyrbes. Numerous 
 old inferiptions in the Etrufcan, Greek* 
 and Latin languages, on ftone and marble, 
 on plates, urns, vafes, and farcophagt, 
 are ftill preferved in the firft and feyenth 
 room of the gallery of the Grand Duke of 
 Tufcany at Florence ; and in the firft room of 
 that gallery are feveral inferiptions on burnt 
 clay, with which the Etrufcans covered 
 the unburnt bodies of their deceafed friends,, 
 The Latin incriptions are divided into twelve 
 clafles. The firft thereof commences with 
 the gods, and their priefts. In each of them 
 are preferved fome of thofe which have 
 been brought from Africa by Pagni, 
 defcribed by Gori, Falconieri, and Spon; 
 they are diftinguifhed by the Greek * 
 which is ufed in the place of the Latin L 
 The fecond clafs relates to the Emperors, 
 and contains amongft others the fo much 
 
 admired 
 
[ ioi ] 
 
 admired bafes by Maffei, and a large epifty- 
 lium which is fattened in the wall above 
 the principal door. It was found with four 
 others at Civita Vecchia in a dark repofitory 
 belonging to monuments facred to Tiberius 
 and Livia. It is worth the notice of anti- 
 quarians, that on this marble after the name 
 of Tiberius fome of the inscription has been 
 erafed, and replaced with the words DIVAE 
 AUGUSTAE, which may be occafioned by 
 Claudius's adoration of Livia. The third 
 clafs refers to the confuls and other 
 Romans of rank. The fourth, to the Ro- 
 man municipalities, to which have been 
 added a great many, new and beautiful. 
 The fifth, for the publick buildings and 
 plays in which the mile-pillars are in- 
 included. The nxth, for the military. 
 The feventh, and eighth, contain the titles 
 given by furviving relations to ' their 
 deceafed anceftors. The ninth, relates 
 to flaves who got their freedom. The 
 tenth contains monuments of chriftianity. 
 
 The 
 
[ 102 1 
 
 The eleventh, fuch infcriptions of only the 
 names of deceafed perfons. And the 
 twelfth is a mixture of different infcriptions, 
 amongfl whom many are doubtful and feem 
 to be counterfeited. But MafFei in his Arte 
 criiica lapidaria, recommends notwithstand- 
 ing the preservation of thefe infcriptions, 
 becaufe they may ferve for publick infor- 
 mation, and principally,- that at one time 
 or the other it may be proved, they are 
 genuine, as has been the cafe with the 
 infcription of Scipio Barbatus, and feveral 
 others in the collection of Riccardi, which 
 were declared by Maffei, to be counterfeit. 
 But notwithftanding feveral of them have 
 been proved to be counterfeit, by the 
 colour of the marble, the moil part are ge- 
 nuine, which fatisfaclorily proves the art 
 of writing was known to the ancients. 
 
 But thefe materials were foon found 
 to be difficult to write upon, and therefore 
 others, more fimple and more convenient, 
 
 were 
 
[ 103 ) 
 
 Were fought for. Bricks and flones were 
 changed for different kinds of metals, and 
 lead became then the moft ancient writing 
 fubftance. Job mentions, in chapter xix» 
 verfe 24, engravings with an iron pen 
 ©n lead ; and Paufanias fays, that Heliod's 
 Opera et Dies was written on leaden tables, 
 which were preferved on the mountain of 
 Helicon. Pliny ftates, that lead was ufed 
 for writing* which was rolled up like a 
 cylinder* Hirtius wrote to Decius Brutus 
 on leaden tables. In Italy were preferved 
 two documents of Pope Leo III. and 
 Luitbrand, King of the Longobards; and, 
 according to Kircher's Mufeum, table X* 
 many more of fuch writings on lead are 
 to be found. For example, Montfaucon 
 notices a very ancient book of eight leaden 
 leaves, the firft and laft was ufed as a 
 cover, and that it contains numerous myf* 
 terious figures of the Bafilidians, and words 
 partly Greek, and partly of Etrufcan let- 
 ters. On the back were rings fattened, by 
 a means 
 
[ 104 ] 
 
 means of a fmall leaden rod, to keep 
 them together. Paufanias notices likewife, 
 in his Meflenica, that Epiteles dug up out 
 of the earth a brafs verTel, or urn, which 
 he carried to Epaminondas, (about 350 or 
 360 years before the birth of Chrift,) in 
 which there was a fine plate of lead or 
 tin, rolled up in the form of a ,book, on 
 which were written the rites and ceremo- 
 nies of the great goddeflfes. And we have 
 a late difcovery of writing on lead, if the 
 account given Hn the Gentleman's Maga- 
 zine, July 1757, may be depended on; it 
 is no longer ago than in the year 304. 
 *' In a (tone cheft, the acts of the council 
 of Illiberis, held anno 304, were found at 
 Granada in Spain; they are written or 
 engraved on plates of lead, in Gothic 
 characters, and are now tranflating into 
 Spanifh." 
 
 Bronze was afterwards more frequently 
 ufed than lead, as is certified in the Hif- 
 
 tory 
 
tory of the Maccabees, by Dionyfius of 
 Halicarnaffus, Cicero, Livy, Pliny, Suetonius, 
 and Julius Obfequens. Phoenician letters 
 were on the kettle of bronze, devoted by 
 .Cadmus to Minerva, who was adored at 
 lindus, on the ifland of Rhodes. But, as 
 the kettle is not only loft, and the copies 
 of the infcription, with thofe of Cadmifian 
 letters, on feveral tripod veffels, mentioned 
 by Herodotus, and others, I fhall confine 
 myfelf to thofe which ftill exift, of which 
 the • moft remarkable are the famous 
 Scriptum de Bachanalibus, in the Imperial 
 Library; Trajan's Tabula Alimentaria; and 
 the helmet, found at Cannae, with Punic 
 letters, defcribed in the Mufeo Etrufco of 
 Gori, and which is how in the third room 
 of the gallery of the Grand Duke of Tuf- 
 cany, at Florence. I cannot omit noticing 
 the eight tables of bronze, found in the 
 town of Gubbio, in a fubterraneous cabinet, 
 when, in the year 1444, parts of an amphi- 
 theatre were removed: on feven tables the 
 tt 2 Infcriptions 
 
Infcriptlons were in the Latin, and one in 
 the Etrufcan language. Since that time 
 feveral bronze tables, with Etrufcan wri- 
 ting, have been dug up in Tufcany. The 
 feven Latin have been defcribed and en* 
 graved on copper-plates, by Merula, Grater, 
 and others, and one by Thomas Demiter. 
 
 The criminal, civil, and ceremonial law* 
 of the Greeks have been engraved on 
 bronze tables, and the fpeech of Claudius, 
 engraved on plates of bronze, are yet pre- 
 ferred at the town-hall of Lyons, in France* 
 
 The celebrated ftatutes or laws on twelve 
 tables, the major part of which, the Ro- 
 mans copied from the Grecian code, were 
 firlt written on tables of oak, but according 
 to others on ten ivory tables, and hung up 
 pro rqftris. But, after they had been 
 approved by the people, they were en- 
 graved in bronze. But thefe were melted 
 through fire occafioned by lightning which 
 
 (truck 
 
t 107 ] 
 
 itruck the capitolium, and confumed like- 
 wife numerous other laws for the cities and 
 country, which were there depofited; the 
 lofs thereof was highly regretted by the 
 Emperor Oaavius Auguftus. The laws of 
 the Cretans were likewife engraved in 
 bronze; and the Romans etched, in gene- 
 ral, their code pkbifcita, contraas, conven- 
 tions, and public records, in brafs, not 
 only during the exiftence of the republic, 
 but likewife under the reign of the Empe- 
 rors. The magiftrates of Athens were 
 chofen by lot; the names of the candidates 
 were written on bronze plates, and put into 
 an urn, with white and black beans, and 
 the perfon whofe name was taken out with 
 a white bean was elected. 
 
 The pacts between the Romans, Spartans, 
 and the Jews, were written on brafs, which 
 method was likewife obferved by the guilds 
 and private perfons who ufually, for fecu- 
 rity, got the land-marks of their eftates 
 H x engraved 
 
f 108 ] 
 
 engraved on metal; and in many cabinets 
 are yet to be feen the difcharges of foldiers 
 written on copper-plates. It is not long 
 fmce, at Mongheer, in Bengal, a copper- 
 plate was dug up, on which chara&ers of 
 Schanfcreet, were etched fignifying a gift 
 of land, from Bideram Gunt Raja of Ben- 
 gal, to one of Ms fubje&s* This bill of 
 feoffment, , on copper, is dated 100 years 
 before the birth of Chrift, and proves at 
 the fame time that the Indians were, 
 about two thoufand years ago, in a high 
 degree of cultivation. Such genuine docu- 
 ments, written on fuch hard fubftances, in 
 more modern times are very fcarce. The 
 Archbimop Adelbert, of Mentz, ordered 
 a grant to be engraved on metal plates, 
 which privilege is kept over the door-wings 
 of the church B. Maria Virginis ad gradus, 
 in Mentz; and, in 1011, thefe door-wings 
 were manufactured of can: metal, refem- 
 bling bronze, by the Archbifhop Willigis, 
 
 The 
 
[ 109 ] 
 
 The Abbot Cab^ent, and the Benedictine 
 Monk Legipont, entertain the opinion, 
 that the moft ancient writing material 
 which has been ufed was wood. It is cer- 
 tain that box-wood, deals, and ivory tables, 
 have in thofe times been occafionally'made 
 ufe of to write upon, but of the precife time 
 nothing can be afcertained with certainty. 
 
 Ifaiah (chapter xxx. verfe 8), and Ha- 
 bakkuk (chapter ii. verfe 2), make mention 
 of writings upon tables, that it may be 
 remembered for the time to come, for 
 ever and ever.* Solon's Civil Laws were 
 written on boards, which were placed in 
 
 a machine, 
 
 * Solomon, in the Book of Proverbs, (chap. iii. 
 . ve r 3.) in allufion to this way of writing on thin 
 Hices of wood, advifes his fon, to write hts precepts 
 upon the table of his heart. Solomon lived about one 
 thoufand years before- the birth of Chrift, and Habak- 
 kuk near four hundred years later; between which 
 two different periods, different authors plage the birth 
 of Homer. This proves, that the pugillares, or tables 
 of wood to write on, were in ufe before Homer's 
 time, but how long before, no authentic account can 
 be obtained. 
 
[ no ] 
 
 a machine, conflru&ed to turn them ea%, 
 called axones; and, even in the fourth 
 century, the laws of the Emperors were 
 publiflied on wooden tables, painted with 
 cerufe, which gave rife to the expreffion in 
 Horace; Leges incidere ligrw. The Swedes 
 had the fame cuftom, for which reafon the 
 laws are Hill by them named, Balkar, 
 originating from a piece of timber, called 
 Balkan, which is a balk or beam. 
 
 The Greeks and Romans ufed commonly, 
 at an early period, either plain wooden 
 boards or covered with wax. The Greeks 
 called wooden boards which were not 
 covered with wax, Schedx or Schedule. 
 On fuch Schedulas was written, in the 
 Hebrew language, the Gofpel of Matthew, 
 which, according to Baronius, in his 
 Martyrologium Romanum, was found in the 
 tomb of the Apoftle Barnabas, The name 
 of pugillares given by the ancient Romans, 
 Originates from pugillum, becaufe they 
 
 could 
 
t m ] 
 
 could be held in one hand ; thefe tablets 
 alfo were fometimes called codices and 
 £odicilli; from caudes, the trunk of a tree, 
 being cut into thin dices, and finely planed, 
 and polifhed; and they ufually confided 
 of two, three, five, and fometimes of 
 more leaves ; from whence they were more 
 diftinguimingly denominated by the Greeks 
 diptycha, triptycha, and pentaptycha; and 
 thofe leaves, being waxed over, or overlaid 
 with wax, were named Pugillaris cerei, and 
 were written upon, with an inftrument 
 called a ftile. Yet it is very probable, that 
 thofe tablets, being only thin flices of wood, 
 having a fmooth furface, were at firft 
 written upon juft as they were planed ; and 
 that the overlaying them with wax, was 
 an improvement of that invention . Perfons 
 who would privately correfpond, or give 
 fecret intelligence to others, wrote it on 
 plain wooden boards, on which they laid 
 wax after they had written on the wood. 
 Pliny afTures us, that the writing on wooden 
 
 boards 
 
[ "2 ] . 
 boards was a cuftom even before the Trojan 
 war. Such boards have been fometimes 
 fimply named Cera, from which originate 
 the description Cera prima, Cera fecunda, 
 Cera tertia, &c. which fignifies the firft 
 fecond, and third page. The ancient 
 Jurifls unite often the words Tabula and 
 Cerae* It. appears no twithftanding,- that 
 they defcribe under, the denomination of 
 Tabulis, a carefully written work, and 
 under that of Ceris and Pugillaribus, they 
 comprehend a carelefs written manufcript, 
 or copy of writing. Numerous teftaments 
 have been made on Tabulas ceratas. But I 
 recommend attention to the ftatfcd boards or 
 tables, to prevent mifreprefentation ; be- 
 caufe, under the general defcription of 
 Tabula, is often underftood not only wooden 
 boards, but alfo Hone, ivory, and metal 
 tables and plates. 
 
 The Romans employed for common ufe, 
 and principally for writing letters, fmall 
 
 boards 
 
t 113 ] 
 
 boards of common wood, overlaid with 
 bees wax, which were fealed in linen 
 clothes; and, if the laft will was written 
 upon thefe boards, they were run through, 
 and joined together with lace or tape. 
 They ufed likewife very thin levelled 
 boards, of foft wood, named, according to 
 Martial, Tenues tabellas, which were not 
 overlaid with wax, but in which the 
 letters were carved. 
 
 In the archives of the town-hall in 
 Hanover, are kept twelve wooden boards, 
 overlaid with bees wax, on which are 
 written the male and female names of 
 owners of houfes, and of houfes without 
 noticing the ftreets; but, as Hanover was 
 divided, in 1428, into ftreets, we have 
 reafon to believe, that thefe wooden manu- 
 fcripts are more ancient. Thefe boards 
 are apparently of beech wood, and have 
 on the four corners an elevation, and the 
 places within are filled up with green 
 
 wax. 
 
[ 114 ] 
 
 wax. The firft and laft table ferve, at the 
 fame time, as a cover, and are, therefore, 
 only on one fide overlaid with wax, but the 
 others on both fides. Thefe twelve boards 
 form therefore only twenty-two pages; the 
 outfide boards are joined by a piece of 
 leather parted on them, to form the back 
 of the book, and the leather is fattened, 
 by nails, to the other ten boards. ; This 
 curious manufcript book is one foot five 
 inches high, eight and an half inches wide, 
 and about five and an half inches thick, 
 or each leaf about half an inch. There 
 is, befides the before-mentioned elevation 
 on the four corners, another crofs eleva- 
 tion, which divides every flieet into four 
 fquare columns : on each page are between 
 fixty and feventy lines of Monkim letters, 
 which are apparently preffed in the wax 
 with a fefcue. Seven pages are in good 
 preservation. Another manufcript, much 
 like this, is in the gallery at Florence, in 
 the third room in the eleventh ferine; 
 
 another 
 
[ H5 ] 
 
 another in the city library of Geneva ; and 
 feveral are ftill exifting in other libraries 
 and archives, of which I only will notice 
 the wooden Runen-almanack; and the 
 waxed boards which are, according to 
 Lewis of Stralbourgh, ftill preferved in the 
 church of the Salines at Halle. 
 
 The rich Romans ufed, inftead of wooden 
 boards overlaid with bees wax, thin piece* 
 of ivory, named libri eboret, or tibri ele- 
 phantini; and Ulpian ftates, that the prin- 
 cipal tranfaclions of great princes have 
 been ufually written with a black colouf 
 on ivory. Flavias Vopifcus fays, that there 
 was a book of ivory in the library of 
 Ulpian. The exiftence of ivory books has 
 been fully afcertained by Martial, Salma- 
 fius, and Schwarz, notwithftanding other 
 authors have held out, that the name of 
 libri elephantini originates from the enor- 
 mous fize of thefe books, or from the 
 kiteftines of elephants, on which they 
 
 have 
 
t I 16 ] 
 
 have been written; but this is certain, that 
 only the great and the rich were able to 
 life ivory tables, becaufe they were fcarce 
 and dear. 
 
 It mull be obferved, that thefe wooden 
 tables overlaid with wax were of different 
 fizes; and, according to Quintilian, like- 
 wife* ufed to teach writing to beginners; 
 and, according to Cicero, it feems that the 
 critics were accuftomed by reading wax 
 manufcripts to notice obfcure or wrong 
 phrafes, by joining a piece of red wax. 
 The Greeks and Romans continued ftill to 
 make ufe of fuch boards, even at the time 
 when writing on leaves of trees, on Egyp- 
 tian Paper, on membranous fubftances, 
 and oh parchment, was already adopted, 
 becaufe they could thereupon" put down 
 their fugitive ideas, and change or correct 
 them eafily, before they wrote on other 
 fubftances; and it has been proved, that 
 «ven when linen Paper was firft difcovered, 
 
 fuch 
 
C 117 ] . 
 
 fetch boards have been fometimes made ufe 
 of. The Chinefe have, in very ancient 
 times, likewife written with large iron 
 tools on boards, pieces of bamboo, and 
 occafionally on metal. 
 
 Curious refearchers are recommended to 
 confult Perizonius's inftructive notes upon 
 the 12th chapter of the 14th book of 
 Aelian's Various Hiftory, where we are 
 informed alfo, that thefe wooden table- 
 books were often made of the linden or 
 lime-tree, as well as of box, to which the 
 maple may be likewife added, which, 
 being capable of an elegant polilh, was 
 ufed for the fame purpofe. Thus Ovid 
 %s, 
 
 — — — — Venerijidds Jibi Nafo TaUllas 
 Dedicat, at nuper vikfuiftis Acer. 
 
 ~ ; This trqfty table-book, 
 
 To thee, O Venus, now I dedicate, 
 
 Which was but worthlefs maple- wood of late. 
 
 But 
 
t H8 J 
 
 But box was neverthelefs commonly ufed, 
 and we may judge of the ornaments of 
 thofe wooden books from the following 
 diftich in Propertius. 
 
 Non *illas Jixum catas iff curat aurum t 
 Vulgari buxo fordida cera fuit. 
 
 With gold my tablets were not coftly made, 
 On common box the fordid wax was laid. 
 
 The ufe of boards was fuperfeded by 
 the ufe of the leaves of palm, olive, poplar, 
 and other trees. According to Pliny, the 
 Egyptians were the firft who wrote on 
 palm leaves, for which reafon their letters 
 obtained the name of Phcenixcian letters, 
 becaufe the Greeks called the palm-tree 
 Phoenix. In the library of the city of 
 Strahlfund is a book ftill to be feen, written 
 on palm leaves. The Malabars yet write 
 on leaves of the palm, Corypha umbra 
 culifera, and form the letters with a fefcue 
 at leaft twelve inches long, and anoint the 
 
 leaves 
 
 • Tabtllau 
 
[ 119 J 
 
 leaves afterwards with oil. The written 
 letters are rolled up. Their books are of 
 many fuch leaves', which are joined toge- 
 ther with a tape, and framed between two 
 thin boards of the* fame fize. There are 
 Bibles ftill preferved, written on fuch 
 leaves; one of them, the Telugian or 
 Warugian Bible, is to be feen in the library 
 of the univerfity of Gottingen, containing 
 5376 leaves, formed into forty-five meets, 
 which has been purchafed from Baum- 
 garten, in a public fale ; ■ another is at 
 Copenhagen ; and one in the Orphan's 
 houfe, at Halle ; which are all the copies 
 of tli is fcarce work to be found in Eu- 
 rope ; but that preferved at Halle is, ac- 
 cording to Dreyhaupt, not written in the 
 Telugian, but in the Damulian language. 
 The explanation of twelve large volumes, 
 with plants of Malabar, to be feen in the 
 Academical Mufeum at Gottingen, is moftly 
 drawn with a fefcue on , palm leaves. In* 
 Heuelberg's library, at Copenhagen, was a 
 
 i part 
 
t 120 ] 
 
 part of the New Teftament, written in the 
 Malabar language, on palm leaves. The 
 Bramin manirfcript, in the Kulingiennian 
 language, which was fent from Fort St. 
 George to Oxford, is of Malabar palm 
 leaves ; and Mr. Aftle ftates, in his Origin 
 and Progrefs of Writing, (chapter iv. 
 page 49,) that in Sir Hans Sloane's library 
 were more than twenty manufcripts of 
 palm leaves, written in different Afiatic 
 languages; and he fays, (chapter viii. 
 page 203,) that he himfelf is in porTeffion 
 of a manufcript, written on palm leaves, 
 in the Peguan language, which is twenty* 
 one inches long, and three inches and an 
 half wide ; the ground of which is richly 
 ornamented with gold, and the letters are 
 inlaid with a black gummy-like fubftance. 
 
 Knox ftates, in his Hiftory of Ceylon, 
 that there grows a kind of palm tree, of 
 which the leaves are woolly, and of con- 
 siderable breadth, named the pananga tree, 
 
 which 
 
C 121 3 
 
 which are ufed by the .inhabitants for wri- 
 ting, after having taken off the outer fkin. 
 They ufe talipot-tree leaves for the fame 
 purpofe, 
 
 Pliny, who was a diligent enquirer into 
 antiquity, fays, fpeaking particularly of 
 the Egyptians, that they wrote upon the 
 leaves of palm trees ; or, according to the 
 various reading of malvarurfi for palmarum, 
 upon the leaves of mallows, But it is pro- 
 bable, the ancients wrote upon any leaves 
 that they could make fit for that purpofe, 
 Hoffman, in his Lexicon, under the word 
 palma, ftates, from Petrus de la Valle, that 
 the Indian Brachmans write upon the 
 leaves of palm trees, and that one of 
 them made him a prefent of a book 
 compofed of thefe leaves, It was like- 
 wife the cuflom of the Sibyls of old to 
 write their prophecies upon leaves, as 
 appears by the following lines in Virgd, 
 
 (i^neid, lib. iii. v. 443.) 
 
 M A raging 
 
r 122 i 
 
 A raging prophetefs you there fliall fee, 
 Who from her cave fings what the fates decree; 
 Her myftic numbers writes on leaves, and then 
 In order lays, and lurks within her den ; 
 Before the door they lie, as they were plac'd, 
 But if that opening, or fome fudden blaft 
 Should them diforder, fhe no more will fmg, 
 Nor when once fcatter'd, to contexture bring. 
 
 This ufage of the Sibyls writing upon leaves 
 was fo current, that it became proverbial 
 among the Romans to ufe folium Sibyllae 
 for any undoubted truth. Thus Juvenal 
 
 Crtditt me vobis folium recifare Sibyllae. 
 
 Believe rae, what I here declare to you, 
 Is truth itfelf ; no Sibyls leaf more frue. 
 
 The fentence of banifhment or pedalifm 
 (petalifmus) of the Syracufans, according to 
 Diodorus Siculus, was written on olive-tree 
 leaves; and on the fame kind of leaves 
 were written the names of thofe who were 
 excluded from the Senate of Athens, which 
 punimment was called Ekphyllophorefis* 
 
 The 
 
t ] 
 
 *The Eaft Indians have, and ftill ufe, in 
 fome parts, leaves for writing. And, ac- 
 cording to Helvetius Cinna, poplar-tree 
 leaves have been likewife ufed. 
 
 The inhabitants of the Maldivia illands 
 write on leaves of the macarcquo tree, 
 Which are three fathoms long, and one 
 foot wide; and fometimes on thin wooden 
 boards after they have been painted white. 
 In many places in the Eaft Indies, the 
 leaves of the iriufa or banana tree were 
 ufed for writing, till the Europeans intro- 
 duced paper; and in the iftand of Java 
 they ftill write on the leaves of the lantor 
 tree, which are very fmooth, and five or 
 fix feet long. Several other eaftern nations 
 ufe, for that purpofe, the leaves of the 
 cocoa tree, the taon-condar tree, and of a 
 tree named, by the Malays, olen, which 
 grows every where plentifully in that 
 country, and is a kind of wild palm tree, 
 the leaves of which are about one yard and 
 
[ J 24 ] 
 
 an half long, and three inches wide ; for 
 extenfive writings they are tied together. 
 The letters are written thereon with an 
 iron tool, which pierces the outfide cover- 
 ing, and makes indelible letters, which 
 method is preferred by the Indians, becaufe 
 they are ruled by the touch and not by 
 the eye : thofe leaves have a quality which 
 makes them preferable to our paper; they 
 are not only very throng, but, if they 
 remain even for a long time in water, they 
 are not liable to rot or grow tender, and 
 the writing is not deftroyed, for which 
 reafon the natives continued to ufe them, 
 notwithstanding many paper-mills have 
 been ere&ed in India. It is remarkable, 
 that poplar-tree leaves were principally 
 ufed for facred writings, which may be the 
 reafon why Pythagoras calls the leaf of the 
 poplar-tree, a facred leaf. 
 
 The cuftoni of writing on leaves of trees 
 was fuperfeded by the ufe of the raw bark 
 
 of 
 
[ 125 1 
 
 of trees, and the interior bark of the lime 
 tree, of which Suidas remarks, that it re- 
 fembles Papyrus ; and alfo the bark of 
 elder, elm, and birch tree. The exterior 
 bark (cortex) was feldom ufed, being too 
 coarfe in general, and not fufficiently 
 fmooth. to write on legibly and eafily. 
 The interior bark (liber) was therefore pre- 
 ferred, being fmooth and fine. From this 
 originates the Latin name for a book. To 
 carry thofe barks commodroufly in the 
 pocket, they were rolled up, and called 
 volumen; which name has been continued 
 for rolls of paper and parchment, and for 
 books, notwithstanding our books have a 
 a very different fhape. The name codex, 
 or more properly caudex, ftill in ufe, ori- 
 ginates in a like manner: and notwith- 
 ftanding its true meaning is the trunk of a 
 tree, it was adopted to defcribe many 
 iheets of the laid bark-ftiavings together. 
 
 The fliape of the bark-ftiavings on which 
 
[ 126 I 
 
 the ancient Europeans wrote was not all of 
 the fame fize, and thofe manufcripts are 
 very fcarce. Montfaucon fays that there 
 are none in Italy, and that he found only 
 one in the archives of the city of St. Denis, 
 in France. Cragus faw in the city of Chur, 
 in Switzerland, fome verfes of Virgil written 
 on the interior bark of the birch tree. It . 
 is ftated in Afta Petropolitana, torn x. 
 page 449, that many whole books of this 
 kind have been found in Siberia, the letters 
 of which were in the language of the 
 Calmuks. The ancient favorite fong: Eija 
 mit hierta rati innertig, & c . was called the 
 Birch fong, becaufe Elfa, the daughter of 
 Andres, had originally written it on the 
 bark of a birch tree. The protocols of 
 the Emperors were in thefe times written 
 on the fame writing-material *to prevent 
 falfifying, becaufe, if the furface was 
 ihaved in the fmalleit degree, the letters 
 were deftroyed, and could not be replaced 
 by others. Several nations ufe it frill for 
 
 writing, 
 
t 127 ] 
 
 Writing, notwithstanding paper is well 
 known to them. Mr. von Jufti afferts 
 that he poffeffes a letter written, in the 
 Malabar language, on. the bark of a tree; 
 and the Orphan-houfe at Halle, in Ger- 
 many, poffeffes likewife a large manufcript 
 with Bomanian lelters. . In Sir Hans Sloane's 
 library, was a manufcript written in Patta- 
 Bian characters; and a letter of a Nabob, 
 two -yards long, richly ornamented with 
 gold. In the Britifh Mufeum are feveral 
 pieces of the exterior and interior bark of 
 trees, written on ; and many more are in 
 other Britifti libraries. In the gallery of 
 the Grand Duke of Tufcany, at Florence, 
 in the third apartment and the eleventh 
 partition, are feveral writings on bark, but 
 not ancient: but of the antiquity of a very 
 great number of the like manufcripts in 
 the Vatican library, in Greek, Hebrew, 
 Arabic, and Latin, there is not the leaft 
 doubt. 
 
 To 
 
I 128 ] 
 
 To this fucceeded the method of paint- 
 ing the letters with pencils, on linen and 
 cotton : — whether thefe cloths were of the 
 fame kind as thofe now in ufe, cannot be 
 afcertained. According to Symmachius, a 
 great many of the prophecies of the Sybils 
 were likewife written on linen cloth. And 
 Livy ftates the fame, of the annual regifters 
 of the Romans. But Pliny fays, linen 
 was only ufed for writing in private affairs, 
 notwithstanding, Livy and Claudian, and 
 the Theodofian Codex have proved .the 
 contrary; and in the latter (tit. xxvii. 
 cap. 1 1 .) is principally noticed a law, written 
 on mappas linteas. The Chinefe wrote two 
 thoufand years ago, in the reign of Tiin, 
 before they invented the art of making 
 paper, on pieces of linen or filk, cut to fuch 
 a fize as they wiflied to have the book. 
 But it was not ufualfor the Greeks to write 
 on linen. Count Caylus remarks, that there 
 were found, fometimes in the boxes con- 
 taining Egyptian mummies, very neat cha- 
 * characters 
 
[ W 1 
 
 characters, written on linen. It feems natural, 
 that ali linen, ufed for writing, muft have 
 been fteeped in fize or gum, or the ink 
 and paint muft have blotted. 
 
 Of the inhabitants of Partha, it is faid 
 that they wrote upon the fame fluff of 
 which they made clothes. And fome 
 Indians write yet on a kind of cloth, named 
 Syndon. 
 
 But, as linen was too much fubject to 
 become mouldy, animals were then 
 attacked, to furnifh fluff for a writing 
 material: — their fkins (corid) were princi- 
 pally ufed to write upon, after they had 
 been tanned on both fides : thofe of fheep, 
 goats, and affes were preferred. Several 
 books, written on thefe, were in the Vatican 
 library; in that of the King of France; and 
 in feveral others. In the convent of the 
 Dominican monks at Bologna, are two 
 books of Efdras, written on affes fkins, which 
 
 are 
 
L 136 <] 
 
 are faid to be the original manufcripts of 
 Efdras himfelf : but it is certain that it 
 has been written only about five hundred 
 years ago, and it looks like leather. This 
 copy was given to the Prior Aymerico, 
 of that convent, by a Jew, in the com- 
 mencement of the fourteenth century, who 
 by this bribe endeavoured to fecure his 
 fellow Jews againft the Inquifition, and 
 therefore to make it the more precious 
 and valuable aflured the Prior it was the 
 genuine hand-writing of Ezra. 
 
 The ancient Perfians and Ionians wrote 
 on hides from which the hair was fcraped. 
 And the fhepherds in former times wrote 
 their fongs with thorns and awls on ftraps 
 of leather, which they wound round uieir 
 crooks. 
 
 The Icelanders Scratched their runes, a 
 kind of figurative .writing, or hieroglyphic, 
 fometimes on walls: and it is noticed in 
 
 the 
 
[ 13-1 ■] 
 
 ■the Laxdaela Saga, that Olof, at Hiardar- 
 hult, has built a large houfe, on the balks 
 and fpars of which- he has got engraved the 
 hiftory of his own and more ancient times : t 
 and Thorkil Hake wrote his own deeds, in 
 thofe hieroglyphics, on his chair and bed. 
 The most ancient runes are traced to the 
 third century; and the most ancient hif- 
 torian, who mentioned them, is Venantius 
 Ebrtunatus, who lived in the fixth century.* 
 Of thefe letters, or hieroglyphics, there 
 were no more than fixteen in the whole; 
 but as, in the year one thoufand, the Chris- 
 tian faith was introduced into Iceland, they 
 were found infumcient, and Latin letters 
 were adopted. 
 
 Puricelli maintains, that the Italian 
 Kings, Hugo and Lotharis, had given a 
 grant to the Ambrofian church, at Milan, 
 Written -on the fkin of a fifli, which 
 
 Muratori 
 
 * He fays in Carm. vii; i8, Barbara fraxineis pingatur 
 Runa tabellis. 
 
t 132 J 
 
 Muratori took for a kind of parchment by 
 the want of fumeient inveftigation. 
 
 Not only the fkins of animals were ufed 
 for a writing fubftance, but alfo bones and 
 entrails, if they were thought to be fit for 
 that purpofe. In the hiftory of Mahomet, 
 is flightly noticed, that the Arabians took 
 the moulder-bones of fheep, on which they 
 carved remarkable events with a knife; 
 and, after tying them with a firing, they 
 hung their chronicle up in their cabi- 
 nets. 
 
 In the library of the Egyptian King 
 Ptolomceus Philadelphus, which is faid to 
 have contained 700,000 volumes, were the 
 works of Homer, written in golden letters 
 on the fkins of ferpents and other animals; 
 and uno'er the reign of the Emperor Bafi- 
 lifkus, was burned, at Conftantinople, a 
 manufcript one hundred and twenty feet 
 long, written on the inteftines of beafts, &c. 
 
 in 
 
 » 
 
[ 133 ] 
 
 in golden letters, containing Homer's Iliad 
 and OdyrTey. In the library of the Em- 
 peror Zeno Ifauricus were likewife Homer's 
 works, painted in golden letters on the 
 entrails of animals: and we know, from 
 Ifodorus, that -the interlines of elephants 
 have been alfo ufed for writing. 
 
 But thefe writing-materials were neither 
 common writing-mafles nor in general ufe, 
 and regarded rather as a rarity. There is 
 in his Majefty's library at Hanover a letter 
 engraved on a golden plate, written by 
 an independant prince of the coaft of Co- 
 romandel to King George the Second which 
 is about three feet long and four inches wide, 
 and inlaid on both of the narrow fides with 
 diamonds, which was delivered to the late 
 Mr. Scheidt, to be there kept 
 
 We arrive now at the period when the 
 Egyptian Paper was invented, and manufac- 
 tured from the rind of the Paper-plant, 
 
 Papyrus, 
 
[ is*.] 
 
 Papyrus* which grows in the marfhes on 
 the borders of the Nile, and is called in 
 the Egyptian language Berd> or al BerdL 
 Theophraftus, Pliny, Guilandin, Profper 
 Alpin, and other authors, defcribe the 
 
 Egyptian 
 
 * The Egyptians call it Berd, and they eat that part 
 of the plant which is near the roots. The internal part 
 of the bark of this plant was made into paper; and the 
 manner of the manufacture was as follows: Strips, or 
 leaves of every length that could be obtained, being laid 
 upon a table, other ftrips were placed acrofs, and parted 
 to them by the means of water arid a prefs, fo that this 
 paper was a texture of fevejral ftrips ; and it even appears 
 that, in the time of the Emperor Claudius, the Romans 
 made paper of three lays. Pliny alfo fays, that the 
 leaves of the Papyrus were fuffered to dry in the fun, 
 and afterwards diftributed according to their different 
 qualities -fit for different kind of paper; fcarce more 
 than twenty ftrips could be feparated from each ftalk. 
 This paper never exceeded thirteen fingers breadth. 
 In order to be deemed, perfect, it was to be thin, com- 
 paft, white, and fmooth. It was fleeked with a tooth, 
 and this kept it from foaking the ink, and made it 
 glifter. It received an agglutination, which was pre- 
 pared with flour of wheat, diluted with boiling water, 
 on which were thrown fome drops of vinegar; or with 
 crumbs of leavened bread, diluted with boiling water, 
 and paffed through a bolting, cloth. Being afterwards 
 beaten with a hammer, it was fized a fecond time, put to 
 the prefs, and extended with the hammer. 
 
[ 135 ] 
 
 Egyptian Paper-reed to be a plant of the rum 
 kind, which grows in fwamps about ten 
 cubits long. The 'ftalk is triangular, and 
 of a thicknefs to be fpanned ; its root 
 crooked; furrounded, near the root, with 
 ihort leaves, but naked on the Italk. This 
 ftalk has on the top a buiri, which refem- 
 bles in fome refpecls a head with hairs, 
 or of long, thin, ftraight fibres; the root 
 is brown. After Pliny, Guilandin furnimes 
 us with the bell defcription of the Papyrus j 
 and the method how it is prepared for the 
 ufe of writing; all other fubfequent authors 
 have, more or lefs, copied them. 
 
 The Egyptian Paper-reed which accord- 
 ing to Strabo grows only in Egypt and 
 India, and of which in the year feventy- 
 nine, after the birth of Chrift* a fpecies 
 was found in the Euphrates near Babylon, 
 which was equal in quality to the genuine 
 Egyptian Papyrus for making Paper, muft 
 not be miftaken, as Ray and others did, for 
 k the 
 
[ 13* ] 
 
 the Papero-plant growing in Sicily, which 
 much refembles the other. Lobel has 
 given a defcription' of the Sicilian Papero, 
 in his Adverfariis, and it does not feein 
 that it has been ufed in ancient time for 
 making Paper: it is only lately that the 
 Chevalier Savario Landolina has fent fam- 
 pies of Paper to the fociety at Gottingen, 
 manufactured from this plant, according to 
 the description which Pliny has given of 
 the manufacture of Papyrus. 
 
 Many authors believe that the Egyptian 
 Paper-plant is no more exifting, which 
 does not feem likely, becaufe it was a 
 plant in many refpects of the rum kind; 
 but by the changes which the foil in that 
 country has experienced * it may have be- 
 come fcarcer. Neverthelefs, it is not no* 
 ticed by Pocock ; and Shaw notices it only 
 amongft the hieroglyphics of the ancient 
 Egyptians. Maiilet obferves (which feems 
 to be improbable), Je ferais cependant qfez 
 
 ports 
 
[ 13? ] 
 
 porti a Croire, que ce rteft autre chofe que la 
 plahte appellee au Cqire figuier d'Adam,* et 
 par les Arabes Mons. Moft 6f the modern 
 geographers, who defcribe Egypt, take no 
 notice of this plant, which may lead us to 
 believe that they have either no knowledge 
 thereof, or thought it no object of confe- 
 quence, but not that it exrfts no longer: 
 and, as Pliny ftates that Papyrus was not 
 only ufed for making Paper, but for nu- 
 merous other purpofes, which he def- 
 cribes, we mult prefume that care w r ould 
 have been taken to preferve fuch an ufeful 
 plant. 
 
 The Egyptian Paper was manufactured 
 from the fine pellicles of the Papyrus which 
 furrounded the trunk (the fineft of which 
 were in the middle), and not from the 
 marrow of the plant. Thefe pellicles were 
 Separated by means of a pin, or pointed 
 mufcle-mells, and fpread on a table 
 fprinkled with Nile water, in fuch a form 
 k 2 as 
 
[ 138 ] 
 
 as the fize of the meets required, and 
 wafhed over with hot glue-like Nile-water, 
 On the firft layer of thefe ikins, a fecond 
 was laid crofs-wife to finim the meet, 
 (Plagula) which was prefTed, hung up to 
 dry, and fmoothed and poliftied with a 
 tooth. The Nile-water was laid on with 
 great care, to prevent fpots in the Paper. 
 Twenty Ikins were the utrnolT: which could 
 be feparated from one ftalk, and thofe 
 nearer!: to the pith made the fineft Paper. 
 
 Twenty meets, glued together,were called 
 fcapus, but fometimes feveral fcapi were 
 glued together, to form a large volumen. 
 This part of the bufmefs was executed by 
 the Glutinatoris, the work of whom refem- 
 bles in many refpecls that of the book- 
 binders in our time. All perfons who 
 worked in thefe Paper-manufaaures had 
 names according to their work. 
 
 With refpeft to the 1 time when this 
 
 Paper 
 
[ 135 ] 
 
 Paper was invented there are different opi- 
 nions; and even the name of the inventor 
 is unknown. Some authors have tried to 
 prove its antiquity from Homer, Hefiod, 
 and Herodotus, and conjectured that Mofes 
 had written his books on Egyptian Paper, 
 whereas Varro Hates that the invention was 
 not known in the time of Alexander the 
 Great, which is about four hundred years 
 before the birth of Chrift; but as Ariftotle 
 mentions the book-moths as well-known 
 infects, it feems likely that the invention 
 is more ancient; and Pliny refutes Varro, 
 by quoting Caflius Hemina, who Mates that 
 a writer named Terentius, by digging 
 a piece of land on mount Janiculum, 
 found in a ftone box the books of Numa, 
 written on Egyptian Paper, which was 
 completely prefer ved, notwithstanding it 
 had been 350 years buried in the earth, 
 becaufe it had been fteeped in oil of cedar; 
 and that Mucian, who was three times 
 conful, had allured him, that during the 
 k 3 time 
 
[ 14-0 J 
 
 time he was commander-in-chief in Lycia, 
 he had feen there, in a temple, a letter of 
 the Lycian King, Sarpedon, written on 
 Egyptian Paper. It is true Guilandin has 
 proved that the Paper-reed was known long 
 before the reign of Alexander the Great, 
 which he ftates was ufed for feveral pur- 
 pofes, but thereby cannot be pofitively 
 afcertained that it was ufed as Paper-ftuflf. 
 
 Neverthelefs, it is remarked by Varro, 
 that foon after the time that Alexander 
 built Alexandria in Egypt, the making 
 paper of the Papyrus for writing oh, was 
 firft found out in that country. On the 
 invention of which, ail the other ways of 
 writing were in a great degree * fuperfeded ; 
 Ijl';:,' '< ;;; .'v.k" ■ .• / ?-v ' . • " v--' '/ #° 
 
 *This mull be underjftood, with fome reflriclion; 
 * for wooden table-books continued in ufe for ages 
 after. The father of John the Baptift, did not afk for 
 pen, ink, and paper, but a writing-table, to write his 
 name in. Nay, they were common folate as the fourth 
 tentury, as appears from the flory of Cafilanus, told by 
 
 Prudentius 
 
t 141 ] 
 
 no materials till then invented being more 
 convenient to write upon than this. There- 
 fore when Ptolemy Philadelphus, King of 
 Egypt, began to make a great library, 
 and to collect all forts of books, he 
 caufed them to be all copied on this 
 new invented paper. And it was exported 
 alfo for the ufe of other' countries, till 
 Eurnenes, King of Pergarhus, endeavour- 
 ing to form a library at Pergamus, which 
 
 lhould 
 
 Prudentius as follows: Gaffianus was the firft Bilhop o{ 
 Siben in Germany, where he built a church in the year 
 350. But being banifhed from thence by the infidels, 
 he fled to Rome ; and was afterwards obliged to keep a 
 publick School for a living at Forum Cornelii, now 
 called Imola, an epifcopal city in Italy. But in 365, 
 he was taken by order of Julian the Apoftate x and ex-, 
 pofed to the incenfed cruelty of his fcholars, who killed 
 him with their pugillares, having firft tortured him with 
 great cruelty with the fame Jlyles, with which he had 
 taught them to write. Prom hence it appears, that fome 
 of thofe table-books, efpecially fuch as fcholars learned 
 to write in, were p jetty large and heavy. Which is 
 alfo confirmed by fome lines in Plautus, where he fays, 
 that a boy of feven years old, broke his mailers head, 
 with bis table-book. 
 
[ 142 ] 
 
 mould outdo, that at Alexandria, oceafi- 
 pned a prohibition to be put upon the ex- 
 portation of that commodity; for Ptolemy, 
 to put a ftop to Eumenes's emulation in this 
 particular, forbad the carrying any more 
 paper out of Egypt. This put Eumenes 
 upon the invention of making paper of 
 Parchment, and on them he thenceforth 
 got copied fuch of the works of learned 
 men, as he afterwards placed in his li- 
 brary; and hence parchment is called 
 pergamena in Latin, from the City Per- 
 gamus, in Leflfer-Afia, where it was firft 
 ufed for this purpofe amongft the Greeks. 
 But that Eumenes, on this occafion, firft 
 invented the art of making parchment, is 
 dubious; for in Ifaiah viii. 1. Jeremiah 
 xxxvi. 2. Ezekiel ii. 9. and other parts of 
 the Scriptures, we find mention made of 
 rolls of writing ; and might not thofe rolls 
 be of parchment? And it is fiiid by Dio- 
 dorus Siculus, that the ancient Perfians 
 wrote all their, records on fkins; and 
 
 Herodotus 
 
t I* 3 ] 
 
 Herodotus tells us of meep-fldns and goat- 
 skins having been made ufe of in writing by 
 the ancient Ionians many hundred years 
 before Eumenes's time. It feems there- 
 fore poffible, that Eumenes found out a 
 better way of dreffing them for this ufe 
 at Pergamus, and perhaps it thenceforth 
 became the chief trade of the place; 
 and either of thefe is reafon enough 
 from pergamenus to call them pergamena?. 
 There is indeed in our Englifh tranfla- 
 tion of Ifaiah's prophecy concerning Egypt, 
 mention made of paper reeds by the 
 brooks, (chap. xix. 7.) which prophecy was 
 delivered four hundred years at leaft. before 
 the time that Varro places the Egyptian 
 invention; by this one would imagine 
 that paper made of thofe reeds was in ufe 
 when that prophecy was written;* for 
 
 why 
 
 * The learned Dr. Gill is of that opinion ; for in his 
 commentary upon the aforefaid verfe in Ifaiah, he fays, 
 " On the banks of the Nile grew a reed or rufh, called 
 by the Greeks papyrus and byblus, from whence come 
 
 the 
 
[ 14* ] 
 
 why were they called paper-reeds, if not 
 applied for that purpofe ? But little ftrefs 
 can be laid upon this pafTage, becaufe the 
 learned are not agreed about the meaning 
 of the original Hebrew Wosd, which is there 
 tranflated paper-reeds. However, let it be 
 the papyrus, or let it be parchment, that 
 was firft found out to write upon, it is 
 certain that the ufe of parchment has long 
 ©ut-lafted that of the papyrus; for books 
 made of this material are now great curio- 
 sities. Euftathius, in his comment upon 
 the twenty-firft book of Homer's Odyfley, 
 remarks that it was difufed in his time* 
 which is near fix hundred years ago. 
 
 The Pager manufactured in Egypt was 
 rather of an inferior quality, and the Romans 
 
 prepared 
 
 the v u«ord paper, and bible or hook, of which paper 
 was anciently made, even as early as the time of Ifaiah, 
 and fo many hundred years before the time of Alex- 
 ander the Great, to which time fome fix the. sera ot 
 making it. 
 
[ 145 ] 
 
 prepared it more carefully, and paid more 
 attention to the warning, beating, glueing, 
 fizing, and fmoothing than the Egyptians. 
 They fized it in a fimilar method as we 
 do rag-paper, but they made their fize of 
 the fineft flour, which was ftirred in boiling 
 water with a few drops of vinegar and fome 
 leaven, and then filtered. It was after the 
 firft fize beat with a hammer; fized the 
 fecond time, prefTed, and then fmoothed. 
 This Paper of the Romans was very white, 
 and according to Pliny, never more than 
 thirteen inches wide. 
 
 Pliny and Ifidorus have informed us that 
 the Romans had feveral forts of Paper, to 
 which they had, given different names. 
 Pliny mentions eight of thefe* 
 
 1. Charta Hieratica, of which were four 
 different forts. 
 
 a. Charta Hieratica, This was a Paper 
 not cleaned at all. 
 
 b. Charta 
 
b. Charta Augufla, (fo called to pay 
 refpecl to the Emperor Augulrus) was 
 improved by one cleaning. 
 
 c. Charta Liviana (named after the Em- 
 prefs) which was rendered fuperior by a 
 fecond cleaning. 
 
 d. Charta ffieratica. This name was 
 likewife given to Paper in full perfection. 
 
 The Romans named thefe four aflbrt- 
 ments in general Charta Hiemtica, or Holy 
 Paper, becaufe it was principally ufed for 
 facred books and writings. All were eleven 
 inches wide. 
 
 The Charta Augufta had at firft the pre- 
 ference, but being too thin for the writing- 
 cane, in the fiftieth year after Chrift, 
 under the reign of the Emperor Claudius, 
 it was improved by lining the Auguftan 
 
 Paper 
 
t ** 7 3 
 
 Paper with an underlaying of the fame 
 Paper, which gave the name to 
 
 2. Charta Claudia, This Paper was 
 better than Charta Augufta, and two inches 
 wider. I mult obferve, that ali books 
 preferred in Herculaneum are written on 
 Paper not underlaid; and that the firft 
 Paper was only written on one fide. The 
 Adverfaria, of which Pliny the elder left 
 one hundred and fixty volumes, were the 
 only books preferved in which the leaves 
 were written on both fides; two leaves 
 being pafted together. It is faid that 
 Julius Caefar was the nrft who wrote opijlo- 
 graphically, but only when he wrote 
 letters to confidential friends. 
 
 3. Charta Fannia. Patemon, a cele- 
 brated grammarian, had in the year five, 
 feveral public work-mops, in which this 
 Paper was prepared with more Ml : it was 
 ufually ufed for writing plays upon. It 
 
 was 
 
1 us ] 
 
 was ten inches wide, and glazed with a 
 tooth, ivory, or mufcle-ftiells. 
 
 4. ' Clutrta Amphitheatrka, which was 
 much coarfer than the before-mentioned 
 forts, and only nine inches wide. 
 
 5. Charta Saitica, which was only made 
 in the city of Said, Salo, or Sahid, from 
 the cuttings or fhavings, and refufe of other 
 Paper, which was gathered throughout the 
 country, and re-manufactured in this city: 
 it was not full nine inches wide. 
 
 6. Charta Tanitica, which obtained that 
 appellation from the city of Tanic, now 
 Damietta. 
 
 7. Charta Emporetica, or ftiopkeeper's 
 ' Paper, which was ufed to wrap goods in, 
 
 was manufactured from the next pellicle 
 under the rind of the Papyrus, and fold by 
 weight: but, being only fix inches wide, 
 ivl ' It ' ■ 1 ■ a . it 
 
C us -J] 
 
 it was found to be inconvenient for covering 
 and packing of goods. It has been called 
 by fome Leneotica. 
 
 8. Charta Macrocolla, or only Maciocol- 
 turn. It received its name from its large 
 iize. [ . ; ' : -\ r <f; 
 
 Several authors mention other forts: 
 Charta Libyana, which was in quality next 
 to the Chart* Augtijjta, Charta Thebaic^ 
 Charta Carica, Charta Memphitica, Charta 
 Corneliana, after Cornelius Gallus, who was 
 the firft that had this paper manufactured. 
 MdlonisPagina; Qham Blanca; it obtained 
 its name from its beautiful whitenefs: this 
 name is yet applied to a blank lbeet of 
 Paper, which is only figned. Charta Nigra 
 was the name of Paper painted black, and 
 the letters written thereupon were of 
 white and other colours. 
 
 Egyptian Paper was manufactured in 
 
 Alexandria 
 
I 150 1 
 
 Alexandria and other Egyptian cities, in 
 fuch large quantities, that Vopifcus fpeaks 
 of Fermies having boafted, that he poflefTed 
 fo much Paper, that its value would main- 
 tain a large army for a longtime. Alex- 
 andria was for a confiderable time folely in 
 poffeflfion of this manufacture, and acquired 
 immenfe riches, which was much noticed 
 by the Emperor Adrian; and it is not 
 at all furprizing, that the gain which 
 the inhabitants of Egypt made from the 
 trade and confumption of this manufac- 
 ture, during the fpace of feveral hun- 
 dred years, was exceedingly great ; having 
 it all to themfelves, and furniftiing Eu- 
 rope and Afia therewith. At the end 
 of the third century the commerce of 
 Egyptian Paper was ftill flourifhing, and 
 continued to the fifth century, notwith- 
 itanding it was charged with a very high 
 import, which induced King Theodoric, a 
 friend to juftice, after theft impafts were, 
 at the latter end of the fifth century, greatly 
 
 increafed, 
 
1 151 ] 
 
 increafed, to deliver Italy therefrom at the 
 commencement of the fixth century. Caf- 
 fiodorus wrote on that fubject a very re- 
 markable letter (the thirty-eighth letter in 
 his eleventh book) congratulating the whole 
 world on the ceffation of an impoft on an 
 article of commerce, fo neeeflary for the 
 convenience and improvement of mankind; 
 and fo highly oppreffive to the cultivation 
 and profperity of arts, fcience, and com- 
 merce. 
 
 It was flill ufed occafionally in Italy 
 until the eleventh century, but not gene- 
 rally, by reafon of its laborious, difficult, 
 and expenflve manufacture, and that the 
 ufe of Parchment and Paper made of cotton 
 became gradually introduced. Several au- 
 thors differ again in dating the exact: period 
 when the ufe of Egyptian Paper was dropt ; 
 but this difference may originate from mis- 
 taking the Paper made of Papyrus for that 
 of the bark of trees, which was even con- 
 h tinned 
 
[ 152 ] 
 
 tinuecLto be ufed in the twelfth century, 
 and fhall be mentioned hereafter. 
 
 Some of that Paper is preferved to the 
 prefent time. It was already known in 
 France in the fifth and fixth centuries, 
 Mabillon quotes feveral acts ftill exifting, 
 written on Paper manufactured from the 
 Papyrus, by the Kings Childebert the Firft 
 and Clodovic the younger; and Gregorius 
 Turonenfis affirms in his letters, that it was 
 generally ufed at an early period in the 
 French Chancery. In the Abbey of St. 
 Germain des Pre?, at Paris, was. a complete 
 work written on Egyptian Paper. In the 
 Royal Library at Paris was the Charta ple- 
 naria potejlatis, written on the fame Paper. 
 And Mabillon remarks that one of fuch 
 manufcripts, written in the fixth century, 
 was in the Library of Mr. Petau, which 
 Montfaucon could not get a fight of. 
 
 In the Cottonian Library are four leaves 
 
 of 
 
I 153 ] 
 
 of this Paper, on which the gofpels of St 
 Matthew and St. John are written. 
 
 Italy can produce feveral explanations of 
 Pfalnis, manufcripts of the fathers of the 
 Church, Public Ads, &c. written on 
 Egyptian Paper: amongft them I muft 
 notice a fcarce relick of the treafury of St. 
 Mark, at Venice, which is the gofpel of 
 * St. Mark, written by himfelf, of which 
 fome leaves have been conveyed to Prague, 
 by the Emperor Charles IV. It is kept 
 with great veneration and care in a filver 
 cafe gilt, which is in the form of a book, 
 and confidered to be the moil precious 
 piece of the whole treafury, notwithftand- 
 ing no perfon is able to diftinguifh a finale 
 letter, being fo much injured by time, that 
 it tumbled to aflies when only touched. Za- 
 netti difcovered in the cabinet of Mr. Nani, 
 a diploma of Papyrus, a Venetian ell long, 
 and half an ell wide. And lately was found, 
 In the archives at Florence, a document 
 L 2 which 
 
[ w 3 
 
 which is apparently written between the 
 years of 454 and 469, of fix feet by two; 
 many others are exifting in Italy, too nu- 
 merous to fpecify. 
 
 Amongft the feveral documents written 
 on Egyptian Paper, at Vienna, is a diploma 
 of Pope Benedict III, of twenty one feet by 
 two: and a document in Latin, which is 
 entirely preferved. The record of Ottokar, 
 King of Bohemia, is likewife written on 
 Egyptian Paper. In the Electoral Library 
 at Munich, is a manufcript on reed ; and in 
 the Library at St. Gall in Switzerland, is a 
 Codex of this Paper, on thirty leaves in 
 quarto, written in the feventh century, 
 with Uncial letters, containing the Homi- 
 lias St. Auguftini et Ifidori. In the Library 
 at Geneva are two manuscripts, according 
 to Mabi lion and Montfaucon, of the fourth 
 and fifth century. I could quote many 
 more remains of Egyptian Paper, noticed 
 by Mabillon, Vacchieri, Gerkens, Lambe- 
 
 cius, 
 
t 155 ] 
 
 cius, and other authors; and other manu- 
 fcripts lately difcovered by fcientific 
 travellers; but, as it would extend this 
 account beyond my intended limits, I 
 mall now turn to another Paper-material* 
 which is more ancient than the Paper of 
 Papyrus. 
 
 Charta Corticea, or Paper of the Bark of 
 Trees, manufactured of the membrana ligni 
 tenuiori, and likewife ufed for writing, is 
 difficult to be diftinguimed from the 
 Egyptian ihrub-paper, called Charta papy* 
 racea ex pellkulis herbe Mgyptiaae, and 
 therefore often confidered to be the fame; 
 and feveral authors deny it ever to have 
 exifted. But if they had carefully ex- 
 amined thefe two forts, they would have 
 difcovered their error, and the difference. 
 
 The Charta Corticea has been, as afore- 
 faid, made of the fine fkinny fubftance 
 feparated from the interior fide of the bark 
 
• [ iva ] 
 
 effuch trees as were fit for that purpoCe, 
 which has been moft likely formed inta 
 Paper -by warning, beating, and plaining, 
 like the Paper of Papyrus. But it had 
 always three or four couches, which were 
 _ g* ued together, and was therefore through 
 its thicknefs not only more brittle, but the 
 united pellicles often feparated; principally 
 the upper couch which was written on, and 
 the writing became, therefore indiftinft 
 and ufelefs. The Codices of Cham Corticea 
 are for the major part written in Latin, 
 which gives us reafon to fuppofe, that it 
 was ufed principally in the weftern coun- 
 tries, where the Egyptian Paper could 
 not be obtained, or was very expenfive, 
 and the inhabitants were therefore obliged 
 to try to make their own paper. All an- 
 cient documents in Germany which are not 
 written on parchment are in general on 
 Paper made of filk, wool, and the bark of 
 trees; but thefe on Paper made from 
 Papyrus are fcarce, and a much experienced 
 
 eye 
 
eye is only able to diftinguifh one from 
 the other. In the Abbey of St. Germain 
 is a remnant of a manufcript, the upper 
 couch of which has difappeared with the 
 letters. In the archives of the church at 
 Gironne are preferred the bulls of the 
 Popes Romanus and Formofus, of the 
 years 891 and 895. They are about fix 
 feet long, and three feet wide, and are 
 apparently formed by gluing the Ikins or 
 leaves couch wife one to the other; and 
 the writing remains legible in different 
 places. The learned men in France could 
 not agree, on the fubftances, of which 
 this paper had been made, and differed 
 in their opinions; fome take it to be 
 Egyptian paper* and others for paper made 
 of the inner fibres of the bark of trees, 
 and the laft opinion was fupported by the 
 majority, which induced the Abbot He- 
 raut ae Belmont to write a treatife on 
 thofe differences of opinion; and accord- 
 ing to the genealogic almanack at Berlin, 
 
[ M ] 
 
 of the year 1788, many remnants of this 
 curious paper are yet preferred in feveral 
 convents. In the Imperial Library at 
 Vienna is likewife an original preferred, 
 which is a charte blanche, granted on 
 this kind of Paper. The ufe of this 
 Paper continued in France till the 12th 
 century. 
 
 That* in the moft ancient times, /kins 
 and hides* pf animate have been uted 
 as a writing material I have before 
 stated. In more modern times the fcin 
 between the hide and the flefh was fe. 
 parated, fcraped, and by working and 
 rubbing with quicklime, were formed into 
 leaves, and called Mtmbrana. Thefe were 
 ufed by the Hebrews and Greeks; and 
 
 the 
 
 Libra in corio, is not the particular name of books 
 written on animal Ikins, but many times ufed for 
 boofcs of bar* of tree*; and, when Vlpimm fpea*s 0 f 
 libns in corio, corium fignifies no animal {kin, but 
 the bark of fome other trees than the lime-tree, which 
 *»s been named coria. 
 
[ 159 ] 
 
 the Jews maintain that their anceftor! 
 ufed them for writing on the Mountain 
 of Sinai. It is certain that the Jews had 
 at the time of David, books of the fkin 
 of animals rolled up called Mgilloth; and 
 Herodotus aflures us, that in remote times 
 the flans of ftieep and goats were the 
 ufual writing materials about 440 years 
 before Chrift. That the ancients have 
 ufed fldns of different animals for that 
 purpofe is apparent, by the words, Mem- 
 brana caprina, agnina, ovilla, vitulina, et 
 hoedina, which are found in feveral au- 
 thors. 
 
 But fuch membranes are very different 
 from the true parchment, Charta Per- 
 gamma. 
 
 Ptoiomaeus the Firft,* King of Egypt, 
 who died in the year of Rome, 470, 
 eftablimed in Alexandria, a very exten- 
 
 " five 
 
 * Sometimes named Soter and Lagus. 
 
\ t wo .] * 
 five library, which was much enlarged 
 by his fon Ptolomzeus Philadelphus, with 
 the affiftance of his librarian Demetrius 
 Phalereus. Eumenes, King of Pergamus, 
 as has been before ftated, contended with, 
 and endeavoured to furpafs him if pofli- 
 ble, which created jealoufy; and caufed 
 Ptoloma3us to prohibit the exportation of 
 Egyptian Paper, under heavy penalties. 
 It may be that this prohibition was not 
 folely occafioned by jealoufy, but from the 
 fear that his dominions, which were fo 
 much improved in arts, fciences, and ci- 
 vilization, fince the difcovery of Paper, 
 would be again reduced to a ftate of 
 ignorance for want of Paper, becaufe the 
 plant failed fometimes in unfavourable 
 weather. The Pergamians were therefore 
 obliged to devife other means for making 
 Paper, and they difcovered the manu-' 
 faelure of ufeful parchment, about 300 
 years before Chrift, and in the fifth cen- 
 tury of Rome which obtained its name 
 
 from 
 
I m ] 
 
 from the city of Pergam, or Pergamus, 
 in Alia (now Pergatno), . the place where 
 it was invented, and the .art of bringing 
 it to fuch a ftate of perfection, that ac- 
 cording to Prideaux and Freret, it greatly 
 furpaffed the Egyptian Paper in finenefe, 
 fmoothnefs, and ftrength; and the art of 
 making it very thin arrived likewife in a 
 ihort time to a furprizing degree of per- 
 fection. Rome manufactured the befi 
 parchment. The firft inventor could only 
 manufacture yellow parchment ; yet in 
 Rome it was foon improved, and made 
 white : but as that delicate colour was 
 too liable to tarnim and fpot, it was only 
 made white on one fide, and the other 
 left yellow; and if it was to be ufed for 
 writing on both fides, it was coloured 
 violet and purple, and the letters were 
 written thereon in gold or filver. Gold 
 was only ufed for facred writings, and 
 principally for the Pfalms and Gofpels. 
 
 Jofephus 
 
f 162 ] 
 
 Jofephus ilates, that the High-Prieft 
 Eleazar fent to Ptolomaeus Phihdelphus a 
 copy of the Holy Scriptures which was 
 to be tranflated into Greek by feventy- 
 two interpreters. The king greatly ad- 
 mired the beauty thereof and the fine 
 membranes, (tenuitatam membranae) on 
 which it was written with golden letters. 
 But the tranflation has been made in Egypt 
 only 285 or 286 years before Chrift, by 
 the Synedrion, which confifted, like the 
 Hierofolymitanic, of feventy-two learned 
 men, who not only made the tranflation, 
 before it was laid for the King, and in- 
 troduced into the fynagogues, but revrfed 
 it with fome alterations. It was only the 
 Pentateuch, or the five books of Mofes, 
 becaufe the other parts of the language of 
 the Jews at that time were not confiderecL 
 as parts of their Jaws, and therefore lefe 
 necefiary for the Egyptian Jews; ana* it 
 is clearly proved by the latter part of 
 the book pf Efther, that it has be,en 
 
 tranflated. 
 
[ T 
 
 tranflated into Greek by another trani- 
 later* 
 
 All the world at that time did not 
 ufe folely Paper and Parchment for wri- 
 ting upon, but ftones and metals; the 
 laft were chiefly continued on account of 
 its durability, and all nations had not at- 
 tained a knowledge of the uferul inven- 
 tions of the Egyptians and Pergamians. 
 Parchment came into ufe in Europe 
 not before the fixth century, which 
 increafed in the /eighth and ninth; and 
 England and Germany made very little 
 ufe of Egyptian Paper for diplomas, but 
 parchment, till the year 1280. I am in- 
 formed that before the invention of Rag- 
 paper, nothing elfe was ufed in Germany 
 for diplomas than parchment; and, not* 
 withstanding, no map of parchment made 
 before the iixth century has been difco- 
 ♦ered. 
 
 Wit! 
 
With refpecVto the fee, length, and 
 width of the parchment, it was not regu- 
 lated like the Egyptian Paper, and there 
 are documents as fmall as our playing-cards, 
 There was likewife no adopted rule, if 
 written at length or at the fides ; it depended 
 on every one's fancy : but as it commonly 
 was ufed only on one fide, it was more ge- 
 nerally written fidewife than lengthwife, to 
 fave fpace. When printing was invented, 
 parchment was likewife printed upon ; and 
 at Berlin, Brunfwic, Paris, and St. Blaife, * 
 are copied of a bible, printed in the year 
 1450, on parchment, by Guttenburg, In 
 three folio volumes. At the Univerfity 
 library at Helmftadt is the Officio Ciceronis: 
 and from the library of the late Mr. von 
 Duve was fold, by public auction, the very 
 fcarce work, printed on parchment, Chronica 
 Figurata totius mundi a Hartm. Schedelio, 
 
 *An Abbey of the Benediftines, in the Black Forefl* 
 in the Bifhopric of Conftance. The Abbot is a Prince 
 of the German Empire. 
 
[ 165 ] 
 
 DoB. Norimb. of. Anton. Koberger, printed 
 in folio, 1493, with copper-plates. 
 
 Parchment mould be only made of calf- 
 fkins, to be entitled to its name; but it is in 
 modern times likewife made of the fkins of 
 meep, goats, affes, and hogs. I mail not 
 enter into a defcription of the manufacture 
 of parchment, or repeat the various ways in 
 which it is ufed, new or old, but only ob- 
 ferve that in France the/e is annually the 
 value of upwards of a million of livres of 
 parchment manufactured. 
 
 Every one well knows that the ufe of 
 parchment is ftill continued in Europe, 
 not only becaufe it is more durable than 
 paper, but alfo that it can be converted 
 into fize when c4d and ufelefs. But the 
 high price, thereof prevents its general ufe; 
 it would be therefore of great confequence 
 to the publick, if a fubftitute could be in- 
 vented, equally as durable as parchment. 
 
 Such 
 
I 166 I 
 
 Such a difcovery would be highly beneficial, 
 as it would not only encreafe the writing 
 and printing material, but referve fuch a 
 large quantity of animal fkins for the ufe of 
 leather, which becomes daily more fcarce. 
 In many libraries are manufcripts of calves- 
 parchment to be feen with painted pictures. 
 The art of painting on parchment was com- 
 mon before the art of painting with oil- 
 colours was discovered. The miniature 
 paintings on parchment of Johannes de 
 Brugges, painter to King Charles the Fifth, 
 and thofe of Julio Clavio, which were paint* 
 ed in the year 1500 in the Virgiluis of the 
 Vatican merit to be noticed. And in the pa- 
 lace of the King of Naples has been preferved 
 a book with miniature paintings on parch* 
 «*eni, by Macedo, Scholar of Michael 
 Angelo. Parchment takes all kind of co- 
 lours, but actually h only painted, red, 
 green, and blue ; except by the Dutch who 
 dye it likewise yellow, and its principal 
 
 beauty 
 
C le 7 ] 
 
 beauty is, that it can be made not only 
 coloured but alfo tranfparent. 
 
 I mall now continue my hiftorical ac- 
 count, and obferve, that it is erroneous to 
 ftate that the Arabs invented, in the eighth 
 century, the manufacture of Paper from 
 cotton: and Cafiri, who ftates it to have 
 been discovered in the year 106, by Jofeph 
 Amra> cannot deny that it was knowri 
 before that time by the Chinefe and Per- 
 iians. The Arabians are therefore not the 
 inventors, and acquired the knowledge of 
 making it only in 704, by their conquefts in 
 Tartary. This invention became then more 
 generally known, but the art of manufac- 
 turing it was only imported in the eleventh 
 century into Europe; and neither is the 
 year of its difcovery precifely known, nor 
 the inventor's name. The firft paper of that 
 kind was made of raw cotton;* but its 
 
 manufacture 
 
 * This mull have been unknown to Guetard, or he 
 would not have ftated that he was the firft who had 
 M afcertained 
 
[ 168 ] 
 
 manufa&ure was by the Arabians extended 
 to old worn-out cotton, and even to the 
 fmalleft pieces thereof. 
 
 But as there are cotton-plants of various 
 kinds, it is natural that thefe muft have 
 produced papers of different qualities ; and 
 it was impoflible to unite their woolly parti- 
 cles fo firmly as to form a ftrong fubftantial 
 Paper, for want of fufficient Ikill ; and alfo 
 for want of European mills ^{ which are not 
 yet eftablifhed by the Moors, Arabs, and 
 Turks, who make ufe of mortars; and hand 
 
 and 
 
 ascertained by experiment.that raw cotton-wool could be 
 converted into Paper, without being previoufly ufed for 
 clothing or other purpofes. It feems he has been mif- 
 led by the Jefuit du Halde, who fays that the Chinefe 
 made their Paper from cotton-rags. Guetard alfo af- 
 ferts, that he was induced to make his experiments, be- 
 caufe he had not found an author who mentioned the 
 practicability of making Paper from cotton-wool,- and 
 that by beating it to a pulp he has made fine white Paper 
 of it. But if he had read Theophilus Prejbyter and 
 Monachus, he would have been informed that in the 
 Eaftern countries it was cuftomary to make Paper of 
 cotton-wool. 
 
[ 169 "j 
 
 and horfe-mills*), it was impoffible they 
 could bring their wool, by that method, and 
 by boiling and beating, to a fine pulp, ren- 
 dered intirely free from its woolly quality. 
 
 Not 
 
 * Thofe who have travelled in Alia and Africa take 
 very little notice of Paper manufa&ures and mills* 
 -Niebuhr declares in the firft volume of his travels (page 
 150) pofitively, that he faw in Egypts neither water or 
 wind-mills, and that the publick corn-mill, worked by 
 oxen, at Kahira, was ufed not only for grinding corn, 
 but likewife for prefling oil-cakes; and that the com- 
 mon people grind their corn with very Ample hand- 
 mills. He gives of all thefe mills a defign and defcrip- 
 tion, which enables us to afcertain, that they cannot be 
 employed for making paper. The Arabs' and Turks give 
 themfelves at prefent very little trouble for making 
 paper, being plentifully fupplied by the Italians and 
 French. There is neverthelefs near Conftantinople, on 
 a rivulet, a paper-mill, which is named in the Turkey 
 language Kehatjana, or Paper-manufa&ory, and makes 
 Cotton-paper. The Greeks ufe water-mills, and built 
 this mill; all the other mills in Conftantinople are 
 Horfe-mills, of which feveral hundred were burnt in 
 Auguft 1782. Du Halde in his travels in 1697 takes 
 no notice of Paper-mills in China, and mentions 
 only a Paper-man ufaftory at Ming-hya. And Navarette 
 Hates not in his travels, publiflied in folio at Madrid in 
 the year 1676, at Fon-gan in his road from To-chew to 
 Pekin, that he faw feveral paper-mills, as is erroneoufly 
 tranflated: he fays only, that he faw feveral paper- 
 manufa&ures, without naming them paper-mills. 
 
 M 2 
 
I 176 ] 
 
 Not difcovering in fuch ancient cotton- 
 paper, ftripes or water-marks, or the prints 
 of wire refembling thofe of our moulds, we 
 muft prefume that their forms were riot 
 like our fkilfully invented moulds, through 
 which the water runs off, and the mafs 
 remains therein united. 
 
 The Chriftian difciples of Moorifli paper- 
 makers, -who fince 1085, were in pofleffton 
 of Toledo, and in 123 8, of Valencia, worked 
 the paper-mills to more advantage than their 
 predeceflbrs : inftead of manufacturing Pa- 
 per of cotton-wool (which is eafily recog- 
 nized by its being brittle and remaining 
 always yellow), they made it of cotton- 
 rags, in moulds through which the water 
 ran off: for this reafon it was called parch- 
 ment-cloth. Befide thefe denominations, 
 the hiftorians of that time call it Charta, 
 Xylina, or Gojfypina, from the cotton- 
 plant; Charta Bombycina, from the ihrub 
 Bombax, 'by which name it was likewife 
 
 defcribed 
 
[ 171 ] 
 
 deferred in England; Charta Cotonea; 
 Charta Damafcena ; and Charta $erica. 
 
 All civilized natipns ufed iirft the Egyp- 
 tian and then the cotton T paper, but had 
 not any idea of ufing linen for the fame 
 purpofe; and to this day the Eaftern na- 
 tions who manufacture their own Paper, 
 #nd even the Greeks, employ only cotton- 
 wool and cloth for that ufe; and are fa 
 much accuftomed to ftrongly glazed Paper, 
 that when they receive Rag-paper from 
 Jtaly and the fouth of France, they glaze it 
 till it refembles our glofly linen cloth. 
 
 It is probable that the Greeks made ufe 
 of cotton-paper fooner than the Latins. 
 And that it was brought into Europe by the 
 Greeks, at an earlier period than by the 
 Moors from Spain, there is no doubt. The 
 Greeks received it from the Tartarian coun- 
 tries at the Bukarias; and through Venice 
 itcame into Germany, where it was known 
 m 3 ifl 
 
[ 172 ] 
 
 in the 9th century by the name of Greek 
 parchment. Greece, fo much conne&ed * 
 by commerce with Afia and Egypt; Italy, 
 which was already in the 7th century fre- 
 quented by the Arabs; Spain, which they 
 conquered in the 8th century, and poflefled 
 to the latter end of the 15th; were, with- 
 out contradiction, the European countries 
 where cotton-paper was firft ufed. The 
 Arabs manufactured, at Cebta (which is, 
 according to Manjanfius, now Ceuta)> a. 
 cotton-paper, called Cebti ; and Spain being 
 
 fo 
 
 # The connexions of the Greeks with Italy and the 
 Oriental Empire, and their navigation on the Black-fea, 
 conveyed the knowledge of cotton-paper eafily to Eu- 
 rope, notwithftanding no document of this paper has 
 been preferved from Greek antiquity, or noticed before 
 the time of the Emprefs Irene, wife of the Emperor 
 Alexius Comnenus, who at the latter part of the ele- 
 venth or at the commencement of the twelfth century, 
 made three copies of the rules for her nuns at Conftan- 
 tinople, two on parchment, and one on cotton-paper. 
 The Genoefe and Venetians, who eftabliftied themfelves 
 afterwards in the Crimea, and carried on commerce 
 with the Greeks and the countries on the Black-fea, 
 took care of the exportation of cotton-paper to the Eu* 
 pean countries. 
 
[ ] 
 
 fo near, could eaffly have been provided 
 with it, until manufactories were fhortly 
 after eftablifhed at Xativa, (or Sateba,) 
 Valencia, and Toledo. 
 
 The fluff for this paper, cotton, wasmoft 
 likely cultivated in Spain by the people* 
 who had conquered it, becaufe they came 
 from a country where it was in general ufe, 
 and they were therefore accuftomed to it. 
 There is yet more than one quality of cotton 
 cultivated in Spain, and that commodity is 
 confidered in the Kingdom of Valencia as a 
 home produ&ion; and it is not unlikely 
 that the predeceffors of the Arabs, (the 
 Phoenicians and Carthaginians,) introduced 
 it into Spain. Swinburne calculates the 
 produce of cotton, the growth of Valencia, 
 at 450,000 arobes, value 350,000/. which 
 is in fome meafure confirmed by Twifs, who 
 faw, between Cordova and Granada, feveral 
 fields full of cotton-plants* in his travels 
 through Spain in 1772 and 1773. 
 
 m 4 -The 
 
[ 174 ] 
 
 The paper-manufactories at Xativa, y a „ 
 lencia, and Toledo, produced only very 
 coarfe cotton-paper till the Moors were 
 driven from Spain, either by the Arabians 
 or Chriftians. The Spaniards being ac- 
 quainted with the ufe of water-mills, im- 
 proved the method of grinding the cotton- 
 wool and rags; and by ftamping the latter 
 in the mill, they produced a better pulp 
 than from the wool, from which various forts 
 of Paper were manufeaured, nearly equal 
 to thofe made of linen-rags. 
 
 Spain m poffefles refidues of cotton- 
 paper. At the convent of Silos, is a Latin 
 vocabulary, of intermixed parchment and 
 thick cotton-paper leaves, written in Gothic 
 characters, the date of which muft have 
 been prior to the reign of Alphonfus VI. as 
 the 
 
 * m °?> in his T ™els through Spain, mentions 
 cotton as ^ natural produaion, and it is furprifing that 
 VUom % a Spaniard, in his Rttabltjfement dej Manu- 
 factures et du Commerce de I'Efpagne, has omitted the 
 mentioning of cotton. 
 
[ "5 1 
 
 the ufe of -Gothic writing was forbidden in 
 1129 at the council at Leon. As very few 
 manufcripts are found on cotton-paper 
 from the lath to the 12th century, but the 
 major part on parchment, or intermixed, it 
 muft be fuppofed that at that time cotton- 
 paper was fcarcer than parchment, or that 
 this mixture was neeeffary becaufe fufficient 
 parchment could not be obtained, and that 
 the cotton-paper was too tender and more 
 liable to break. 
 
 The Arabian author, Scherif al Edrifli, 
 certifies that in 1 15 1 very fine white cotton- 
 paper was manufactured ; and Cacim Aben 
 Hegi aflures us that the beft was made at 
 Xativa. 
 
 The King, Peter II. of Valencia (or the 
 fourth King of Arragon) iflued, in 1338, a 
 command to the papei>makers at Valencia 
 and Xativa, under pain of punifhment, to 
 manufacture; better Paper, which was to be 
 
 equal 
 
[ 176 ] 
 
 equal to that formerly made. Mr. Meerman 
 had in his pofleffion a piece of very coarfe 
 cotton-paper written upon in 1339, which 
 proves that the^ art of paper-making was 
 neglected by the Spaniards; and that prior 
 to the middle of the 14th century no linen- 
 rag Paper had been manufactured in that 
 country. This has been fully afcertained 
 by the above gentleman, from the repeated 
 examination of feveral pieces of Paper fent 
 to him for that purpofe. Not with /landing, 
 their fcientific men perfift in its being linen- 
 paper. 
 
 Cotton-paper came into ufe in France 
 fliortly after its invention; and until 1311, 
 no other Paper than this and the Egyp- 
 tian Paper was known in that country. 
 
 At what period cotton-paper was intro- 
 duced into England cannot be afcertained 
 with accuracy. The moft ancient manu- 
 fcript which can be produced is of 104-9 : 
 
 and 
 
[ ] 
 
 and it appears that its ufe continued till 
 the latter end of the Uth century, and 
 that it has been gradually fupplanted by 
 the linen-paper, which came into ufe in 
 1342. All documents written between 
 1282 and 1347, which Ducarell erroneoufly 
 ftates to be linen-paper, are written on cot- 
 ton-paper, as is the Carmina aurea Salomonis 
 Regis, in His Majeftys library y compofed 
 in the fourteenth century, in the Greek 
 and Latin languages; at leaft there is no 
 reafon to doubt what Mr. Meerman ftates 
 on this fubjecl:. 
 
 Of the introduction of cotton and linen 
 Paper into Scotland, nothing can be ascer- 
 tained ; and it is lingular that it has not 
 been noticed by Thomas Ruddiman. The 
 fame is the cafe with Ireland. But difco- 
 veries may yet be made in thefe countries. 
 
 The knowledge of cotton-paper came by 
 means of the Greeks to Italy; and the art 
 
 of 
 
[ 178 J 
 
 of making it, in Sicily, through the inva- 
 sion of the Saracens. It is certain there 
 was no linen-paper ufed before 1367. 
 
 The bulls of the Popes Sergius II. John 
 XIII. and Agapetus II. were written in 
 the eighth and ninth centuries, on cotton- 
 paper. Dufrefne quotes under the article 
 ChartaCuttunea, from Rocchi PytrhiSicilia 
 Sacra, a place where the family of a paper- 
 maker is mentioned, but no time is noticed, 
 notwithstanding a full account is given of a 
 cotton-paper manufacture which we have 
 not of any other country. 
 
 The large paper*manufa£ure at Fabriano, 
 in the Marchia jkncoriitana (which, accor- 
 ding to Bartolus's defcription, confifted of 
 Several ^different mills belonging to different 
 perfons, although the whole formed only 
 one manufacture), was eftabliftied long ago, 
 but was enlarged from . time < to ,- time, and 
 manufactured, ;#t the period when Bartolus 
 
 wrote, 
 
[ 179 1 
 
 Wrote, nothing but cotton-paper. This 
 author died in 1355; fb that it feems that 
 1561, or thereabouts, was the time when 
 linen-paper was brought into ufe in Italy : 
 and cotton might have been fome time 
 before mixed with linen-rags, till the fupe- 
 riority of the latter was fully afcertained. 
 
 As foon as the ufe of cotton- paper was 
 adopted in Italy, it was alfo introduced 
 into Germany ; and, at the commencement 
 of the ninth century, Well known under 
 the name of Greek parchment. Germany 
 imported the paper fome time before it ma- 
 nufactured it ; and notwithftanding it re- 
 ceived the fluff through the fame channel 
 as the Paper, and that cotton and flax were 
 fpun and wove in the tenth century, the 
 manufacture of cotton paper cannot be 
 traced in Germany to fuch an early period : 
 all that can be pofitively afcertained is, that 
 in the middle of the fourteenth century, it 
 was made by ftamping-mills. But as Ger- 
 many 
 
[ 180 ] 
 
 many had in the thirteenth century, al- 
 ready cotton and linen manufactures, and 
 exported confiderable quantities thereof to 
 Italy, it is fair to prefume that cotton paper 
 was alfo manufactured. 
 
 Germany "pofTeues numerous well-known 
 relicks of cotton-paper, and amongft the 
 numerous manuscripts preferved in the ar- 
 chives, convents, and libraries, there may 
 be Hill more ancient documents than any 
 which are yet come to our knowledge, and 
 which remain unknown for the want of a 
 precife examination. In the collegiate 
 church and cathedral at Ganderfheim is a 
 plenarium of the tenth century, which 
 amongft other rarities of that church boaft 
 of five documents and grants, given by the 
 founders of the convent, between 844 ,and 
 £68, by the Duke Ludolphus of Saxony, 
 by his fon the Duke Otto, and by the Popes 
 Sergius the Second, Agapetus the Second, 
 and Johannes the Thirteenth. The Plena- 
 rium 
 
C 181 1 
 
 rium is likewife written on cotton-paper, in 
 the reign of the Emperor Henry the Second, 
 and attefted in 1007 with the imperial con- 
 firmation by his notary Apel Peranfa, A 
 large manufcript of 1095 is at the Imperial 
 Library at Vienna. The Univerfity Library 
 at Erlangen has a collection of 420 manu- 
 fcripts on parchment, and 150 on cotton- 
 paper. In the convent at Weirgarten are 
 preferved numerous codices and manu- 
 fcripts of all centuries, and on every kind of 
 materials and paper. In the convent at 
 Rheinau are 490 manufcripts on different 
 kinds of paper. The library at the Vatican 
 contained 50,000 volumes, amongft which 
 there were 17,000 manufcripts. In the city 
 library at Augfburgh are numerous ma- 
 nufcripts, and many of them in Greek 
 more valuable than thofe at the Vatican. 
 The Library of the Convent at Tegernfee 
 contains 1500 manufcripts of the 8th, 9th, 
 10th, ITth, 12th, 13th, 14th, and 15th 
 centuries ; and in the Abby of St. Blaife, are 
 
 fome 
 
C 182 J 
 
 fome of the fifth century. The univerfity 
 Library at Harlem, and the Library of the 
 Abby St. Emeran are rich in old ma- 
 mifcripts; and the chapter at Salzburgh 
 produces 58 Codices chartaceos, of cotton 
 Paper, amongft its collections. 
 
 I now conclude the hiftorical account of 
 the feveral fubftances which have been 
 ufed as writing materials, with the inven- 
 tion of linen Paper. 
 
 The Royal Society of Sciences, at Got- 
 tingen, has, in the years 1755 and 1763, 
 offered premiums to trace the exacYtime of 
 this difcovery; and Mr. Meerman printed 
 in 1762 at Rotterdam, Gerardi Meerman> 
 Syndici Roterodamenfis, Admonitio de Charta 
 mjtratis* feu linea, origine, and offered 25 
 ducats to find it out. All refearches were 
 loft and reduced to an uncertainty, through 
 the exifting remnants of cotton Paper, which 
 was as before flated in ufe fome centuries 
 
 before 
 
[ 183 ] 
 
 before the linen Paper, becaufe thefe two 
 are in many refpe&s fimilar, and cotton 
 and linen rags may have been at firft mixed, 
 which rendered it therefore more difficult 
 to afcertain when the firft Paper was made 
 from linen rags alone. 
 
 The Jefuit Du Halde attributes this in- 
 vention to the Chinefe; but as Gerbillon, 
 and other modern travellers aflure us that 
 in the Paper-manufacture at Ming-hya, raw 
 hemp was beaten and macerated with drugs, 
 and then manufactured into Paper, this 
 nation cannot exclufively claim the dif- 
 covery of the art of making Paper from 
 linen rags; and all authors agree that Europe 
 is entitled to the merit of this invention, but 
 they differ as to the time;* fome trace it to 
 
 the 
 
 * Hertius, who feerningly had no knowledge of cotton- 
 paper, believes linen-paper Vas invented in the fixth 
 century. 
 
 Orlandi quotes a manufcript of Homer in the 
 Library at Geneva, written on linen- paper before the 
 year 8qq. 
 
 N Muratori 
 
[ 184 j 
 
 the 8th, 10th, and others to the 11th and 
 12th century; and it is mod likely that 
 Paper has been made from linen cloth before 
 it was attempted to be made from linen rags. 
 
 It is to be obferved, that the invention 
 of making paper from linen, has been pre- 
 ceded by the art of making paper of cotton- 
 rags, which muft be confidered as a prepa- 
 ratory Hep towards the life of linen-rags for 
 the fame purpofe. But as this required fome 
 time, and improvements of the firfl disco- 
 very, it is therefore more natural that this in- 
 vention 
 
 Muratori believes that linen-paper has been firft 
 named Ckarta bombycina, and invented in the tenth 
 or eleventh century. 
 
 Harduin will make us believe, that he has feen a£ts 
 and diplomas written on linen-paper before the twelfth 
 century; and Cafiri fays; Non pauca in regia Ef curia- 
 lenfi Bibliotheca extant monumenta, quae ante tcrtium 
 dccimum Chrifiifeculum funt exarata. 
 
 But Montfaucon Hates the contrary, and infills that 
 he has not discovered, cither in France or Italy, a book, 
 inftrument, or rcanufcript written on linen-paper pre- 
 vious to Ludavicus fanttus t who died fince 1270. 
 
t IS5 ] 
 
 vention is to be afcribed, to a country, which 
 was more familiar with linen, and its agri- 
 culture, than with the application of cotton. 
 
 trregorius Majanfius, of Oliva; Francifcus 
 Perez, of Toledo; and.Ferdinando Velafco, 
 of Madrid, endeavoured to trace this difco- 
 very in Spain, but could not prove that their 
 country was entitled to the merit of it, 
 being completely defeated by a number 
 of other authors; and it feems that the 
 Spaniards had no knowledge of linen Paper 
 before the middle of the fourteenth century, 
 and then it was not manufactured in that 
 country, but imported; and it is moft like- 
 ly linen and linen-rag Paper were only 
 manufactured in Spain a fhort time before 
 the art of printing was introduced. Spain 
 cannot therefore claim the merit of this 
 invention; notwithstanding feveral places 
 in Spain produce very good flax ;*■ and even 
 n 2 foon 
 
 * Twifs relates that he found in the kingdom of Va- 
 lencia ' 
 
t 186 ] 
 
 foon after that they manufactured Paper 
 from linen rags, thefe manufactories went 
 
 to 
 
 lehcia flax and hemp in abundance, where the commoneft 
 clafs of the people wore linen apparel. He obferves 
 alfo that the fruitful plains of Granada produced like- 
 wife flax and hemp. The cultivation of hemp and flax 
 is at prefent very confiderable ; in Valencia are an- 
 nually 25,000 cwt. of hemp, and 30,000 cwt. of flax 
 cultivated. The exportation of hemp from Aragonia 
 was in 1775, 22,000 cwt. But it is certain, that Spain 
 con fumes at leaft ten times more flax and hemp than it 
 cultivates, and even this was then not manufactured, 
 being in the habit of purchafing their linen, fails, and 
 cordage from France, England, Germany and the 
 Northern Countries. According to Pluce, thefe has 
 been imported in the year 1765 in Sevilla, foreign 
 linen-cloth to the amount of 1,200,000 dollars (270,000/.) 
 In the kingdom of Spain has been imported 24,000 cwt 
 of flax. Since the foundation and eftablifliment of the 
 Patriotic Society in Spain, the linen-manufacture is 
 more flourilhing, and the hemp and flax of their own 
 growth is not only manufactured, but alfo large quanti- 
 ties of imported. In Barcelona has been manufactured, 
 in 1783, linen cloth to the value ,of thirty millions of 
 reals. But as long as hemp, imported from Riga, with 
 the duty paid thereon, can be fold at a lower price in 
 Spain, than its own growth, the cultivation will not be 
 cherifhed, and equal the actual profperity of the linen 
 manufactories; and notwithftanding the flax and hemp 
 plant is difperfed all-over Europe, its cultivation is ftill 
 more proper for the Northern climate* 
 
[ 187 ] 
 
 to decay, becaufe the Kings of Spain firft 
 granted monopolizing privileges to many 
 convents for the manufaaure of Paper; and 
 when it came again into private hands, 
 they fixed fuch a low price on printed 
 books, of which the Genoefe availed them- 
 felves, and procured confiderable quantities 
 of rags from Spain, principally from Anda- 
 lufia; and in 1720, they fent Paper back to 
 Spain to the amount of 500,000 piaftres, 
 There are at prefent upwards of 200 Paper- 
 mills in Spain, 31 of which are at Alcoi, 
 and Francifco Guarro manufaaures Paper 
 as good as any Dutch, 
 
 Peris communicated to Majanfius fome 
 works of Ariftotle, tranfiated in the year of 
 the world 5010, from the Arabic, by Mo- 
 fes Semuel Bar Ichdua Ben Thibun at 
 Granada, which is in the year of Chrift 
 1250. The two difTerent forts of paper, on 
 which was written in Hebrew, out the 
 Royal Library at the Efcurial, and fent by 
 N ^ Majanfius 
 
[ ] 
 
 Majanfius to Meerman, have on examina- 
 tion been found to be white linen-paper; 
 they were written at the end of the reign 
 of Alphonfus the Tenth, and at the com- 
 mencement of the reign of his fon Sanaius, 
 between the years 1280 and 1290. But 
 notwithstanding it is decided by thofe An-, 
 tiquarians, to be linen-paper, it differs fo 
 much in quality and colour from all other 
 paper manufadured in Spain, that it is more 
 probable that it has been copied in later 
 years on imported paper, and the date writ- 
 ten thereupon, is by no means a pofitive 
 proof of its antiquity. The moft ancient 
 linen-paper which can be with certainty 
 traced is of 1367; it is a piece of a ma- 
 nufcript of Francifci Eximii Vita K aftis 
 Chrifti, and is intermixed with meets of 
 parchment. It has fcizzars for a watermark, 
 which was one of the ufual watermarks in 
 Germany and Italy in the fifteenth century* 
 
 France made an early ufe of linen Paper, 
 
 but 
 
[ 189 ] 
 
 but manufactures were later eftablifhed 
 there than in Spain and Italy. Lint or flax, 
 was cultivated by the Gauls at an early 
 period ; but the clothing with linen became 
 only a cuftom many centuries afterwards; 
 and the authors of the eighth century quote 
 as a remarkable thing that the holy Segolena 
 was drefled in a linen fhift, and that the 
 Queen of France, wife of Charles the Se- 
 venth, was the firft French Queen who wore 
 fhifts of linen cloth ; which was in the fif- 
 teenth century. This is not a proof that no 
 Paper was made of linen before that time. 
 Several authors prove the ufe of linen Paper 
 in 1270, 1294, 1302, 1314, and 1316, but 
 not that it has been manufactured in France, 
 and we have no account for feveral centuries 
 what kind of linen Paper was made in that 
 country, which the authors would not have 
 left unnoticed ; and therefore no Paper ma- 
 nufacture can be traced before the fifteenth 
 century. Thefe manufactures became in a 
 Ihort time very flouriming, and the French 
 N 4 ( aon 
 
[ 190 ] 
 
 fbon exceeded their neighbours in the art 
 of making Paper, and were therefore ena- 
 bled to export confiderable quantities, which 
 encreafed fo much yearly, that in 1658, of 
 thirty-five millions of livres exported in 
 goods and merchandize to Holland, two 
 millions in value were of Paper ; and it pro- 
 vided Spain, England, Switzerland, Denmark, 
 Sweden, Ruma, but chiefly Holland and 
 the Levant, with Paper for printing and 
 writing. The Paper manufactures in Lan- 
 guedoc, Lionefe, Guienne, Bretagne, and 
 Poitou work principally for exportation; 
 and the fourteen mills in Alface, which 
 manufadure about 4Q,000 reams of Paper 
 annually, export about two-thirds thereof 
 to Switzerland and Germany. 
 
 As the French Hill export a confiderable 
 quantity of Paper, I think it worthy of no- 
 tice, to flate the names, length, width, and 
 weight of all the different forts of Paper, 
 now manufactured in France. 
 
t 191 ] 
 
 Names. 
 
 Length 
 
 Width. 
 
 A Ream fhould weigh 
 
 And at 
 leaft 
 
 
 in. 
 
 in. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Giand Aigle . . . 
 
 24 
 
 9 
 
 36 
 
 6 
 
 1 3 1 lb. and upwards 
 
 I201D. 
 
 Grand Soleil . • • 
 
 24 
 
 10 
 
 36 
 
 0 
 
 H2lb. notexes 120 lb. 
 
 I0 5 
 
 Au Soleil . . . . 
 
 20 
 
 4 
 
 29 
 
 6 
 
 86 and upwards 
 
 DO 
 
 Grand Fleur de Lis . 
 
 22 
 
 0 
 
 3 1 
 
 0 
 
 70 not exceeding 74 
 
 00 
 
 GrandColombierou 7 
 
 21 
 
 3 
 
 31 
 
 9 
 
 88 and upwards 
 
 84 
 
 Imperial • j 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 A i'Elephant . . . 
 
 24 
 
 0 
 
 30 
 
 0 
 
 
 ditto 
 
 80 
 
 Chapclet . ; . • 
 
 21 
 
 6 
 
 30 
 
 0 
 
 66 
 
 ditto 
 
 fin 
 
 Petit Chapelet , . 
 
 20 
 
 3 
 
 29 
 
 0 
 
 60 
 
 ditto 
 
 55 
 
 Grand Atlas . . . 
 
 24 
 
 6 
 
 26 
 
 6 
 
 70 
 
 ditto 
 
 6 S 
 
 Petit Atlas . . . . 
 
 22 
 
 
 26 
 
 4 
 
 65 
 
 ditto 
 
 OO 
 
 Grand Jefus ou Su- 7 
 per Royal j 
 
 l 9 
 
 6 
 
 26 
 
 0 
 
 <i 
 
 ditto 
 
 48 
 
 Grand Royal etranger 
 
 l * 
 
 0 
 
 25 
 
 0 
 
 5° 
 
 ditto 
 
 47 
 
 Petite Fleur de Lis 
 
 *9 
 
 0 
 
 *4 
 
 0 
 
 36 
 
 ditto 
 
 33 
 
 
 20 
 
 0 
 
 24 
 
 6 
 
 36 not 
 
 exceeding 40 
 
 32 
 
 VJXailu JVUyal • « • 
 
 17 
 
 10 
 
 22 
 
 8 
 
 32 slid 
 
 
 29 
 
 Royal . , 
 
 16 
 
 0 
 
 22 
 
 0 
 
 30 
 
 ditto 
 
 28 
 
 Petit Roval 
 
 16 
 
 c 
 
 20 
 
 0 
 
 22 
 
 ditto 
 
 
 VTJ dull Xvcullil « . • 
 
 f.7 
 
 0 
 
 22 
 
 b 
 
 29 
 
 ditto 
 
 2 5 
 
 Lombard . . . 
 
 18 
 
 c 
 
 2 1 
 
 4 
 
 24 
 
 ditto 
 
 22 
 
 Lombard ordinaire 
 
 16 
 
 6 
 
 20 
 
 6 
 
 22 
 
 ditto 
 
 20 
 
 Cavalier . . . . 
 
 16 
 
 2 
 
 *9 
 
 6 
 
 16 
 
 ditto 
 
 15 
 
 Petit Cavalier . . , 
 
 *$ 
 
 2 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 ditto 
 
 »4 
 
 Double Cloche . . 
 
 I + 
 
 6 
 
 21 
 
 6 
 
 18 
 
 ditto 
 
 1U 
 
 Grand Licorne a la ] 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ditto 
 
 
 Cloche . . } 
 
 12 
 
 0 
 
 r 9 
 
 6 
 
 12 
 
 1 1 
 
 a la Cloche . . . 
 
 J P 
 
 9 
 
 r 4 
 
 6 
 
 9 
 
 ditto 
 
 8 
 
 Carre, ou Grand 
 Compte, ou Sabre, > 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 I c 
 
 6 
 
 20 
 
 
 18 
 
 ditto 
 
 16 
 
 Sabre au lion . ) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 20 
 
 0 
 
 13 
 
 ditto 
 
 « : 3 
 
 A l'ecu, ou moyen } 
 Compte, Compte > 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 14 
 
 0 
 
 «9 
 
 0 
 
 20 
 
 ditto 
 
 15 
 
 ou Pomponne . ) 
 
 
 
 
 
 a l'ecu tres mince 
 
 H 
 
 2 
 
 r 9 
 
 c 
 
 11 
 
 ditto 
 
 1 1 
 
 |AuCoutelas . . . 
 
 J 4 
 
 2 
 
 '9 
 
 c 
 
 l 7 
 
 ditto 
 
 16 
 
I 192 1 
 
 Names. 
 
 Lengtl 
 
 1 Width 
 
 A Ream fhould weigh 
 
 And at 
 leaft 
 
 
 in. Iii3 
 
 
 
 
 
 Grand Melfel . . 
 
 1$ C 
 
 » 19 
 
 
 > 15 and upwards 
 
 14 
 
 Second Meflel . . 
 
 14 0 
 
 17 
 
 
 » 12 ditto 
 
 II 
 
 a l'&oile, al'eperdn, 1 
 ou lohguet . J 
 
 13 1C 
 
 18 
 
 t 
 
 > 1 4 auto 
 
 *3 
 
 Grand Cornet . 
 
 13 6 
 
 17 
 
 9 
 
 r 12 not exceeding 14 
 
 10 
 
 Grand Cornet tres 1 
 
 13 0 
 
 17 
 
 5 
 
 8 and iefs 
 
 
 mince ... J 
 
 
 
 
 Champy, ou Ballard 
 
 13 2 
 
 1 u 
 
 1 j 
 
 12 and upwards 
 
 11 
 
 a la Main . . . . 
 
 13 6 
 
 20 
 
 3 
 
 13 ditto 
 
 12 
 
 Couronne, ou Griffon 
 
 13 0 
 
 *7 
 
 1 
 
 12- ditto 
 
 10 
 
 Couronne, ou Grif- ? 
 fon tres mince $ 
 
 13 0 
 
 r 7 
 
 1 
 
 / ana Jcis 
 
 
 Telliere grand Format 
 
 1 x 2 
 3 
 
 17 
 
 4 
 
 12 and upwards 
 
 10 
 
 Cadran . • , . 
 
 T-7 R 
 i 0 
 
 1 e 
 
 
 1 1 ditto 
 
 10 
 
 La Telliere . . . 
 
 12 8 
 
 16 
 
 0 
 
 I2§ ditto 
 
 Ml 
 
 Pantabn . . . . 
 
 12 6 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 1 1 ditto 
 
 10 
 
 retit Kamn, pu Ba- j 
 ton Royal, ou Pe- 1 
 tit v>r>met a la I 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 12 O 
 
 16 
 
 0 
 
 9 or Iefs 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Les trois 0 ou trois ) 
 
 
 
 
 9 and upwards 
 
 H 
 
 rondsj ou Genes \ 
 
 11 6 
 
 l6 
 
 0 
 
 
 11 0 
 
 '5 
 
 1 
 
 
 7 
 
 A 11 y avmpc n* Am* ^ 
 
 JTl.UA «IiIlCcJ vl illll' 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 fterdam Pro Patria > 
 
 12 1 
 
 «$ 
 
 6 
 
 12 tO 13 
 
 12 
 
 ou Libertas . ) 
 
 
 
 
 Carrier grand For- 1 
 mat, Dauphine |" 
 
 13 6 
 
 16 
 
 0 
 
 14 and upwards - 
 
 12 j 
 
 Carrier grand Format 
 
 12 6 
 
 16 
 
 0 
 
 13 ditto 
 
 12 
 
 
 11 6 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 1 ditto 
 
 IO 
 
 Au Pot, ou Carrier 1 
 ordinaire . . J 
 
 n 6 1 
 
 '4 
 
 6 
 
 IV UliLO 
 
 9 
 
 Pifpon ou Romanic . 
 
 
 r S 
 
 2 
 
 10 ditto 
 
 8i 
 
 Efpagnol .... 
 
 1 1 6 
 
 '4 
 
 6 
 
 9 ditto 
 
 8 
 
 Le Lis . * . < . 
 
 E 1 6 i 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 9 ditto 
 
 8 
 
 Petit a la Main, ou 1 
 Main Fleurie . $ 
 
 0 8 1 
 
 3 
 
 8 
 
 8 ditto 
 
 7i 
 
 Petit Jefus ... .J 
 
 9 6 j 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 6 ditto 
 
 
£ 1^3 ] 
 
 All forts which are lefc than nine inches 
 and fix lines in length, are permitted to be 
 made of fuch a width as may be required. 
 
 That Paper called Trace, Trefe, Etrefe, 
 or Main-brune, and of the names Brouillard, 
 and a la Demoifelle, and all coloured Papers 
 maybe manufactured of fuchlengthi width, 
 and weight as ordered. 
 
 There are three forts of French Paper 
 which are exported to the Levant, that are 
 not above defcribed: 
 
 Inches. Inched 
 Aux trois Croiflans, Facon de Venife, 12$ o long, 17 owide, 20lb. ooz. 
 
 Aux trois Croiflans, ou trois lunes, 12 o 16 o 14 |Q 
 
 Croifette 11 6 lines, 15 5 lines 9 4 
 
 The Papers called Couro?ine, Cartier, and 
 a la Cloche, if defigned for the Levant trade, 
 differ from the before-mentioned fize and 
 weight. In Savarys Diclionnaire Univerfel 
 de Commerce are mentioned twenty different 
 
 forts 
 
[ 194 1 
 
 forts of common Paper, made out of old 
 nets and cords, maculated and blotting 
 Paper, to which the French have likewife 
 given different names, but I have omitted 
 them, as they do not contribute to the 
 knowledge of the commerce with. Paper, 
 nor to improve and extend our manufac- 
 tures, which was the motive I had for 
 giving here fo long a detail ; whereas I have 
 endeavoured to abbreviate this hiftorical 
 account, in other refpects, as much as 
 poffible. I will now continue to defcribe 
 the remaining forts of Paper manufactured 
 in France. 
 
 Demoifelle mince is made of the fineil 
 threads of timing nets, and being more 
 ftamped in the mill, lofes its natural colour, 
 and becomes of a cinnamon colour. 
 
 Demoifelle forte is lefs ftamped, and of a 
 dark brown colour, 
 
 Jofeph 
 
[ 195 } 
 
 Jofeph Raifin 9 and Quarri Mufe, are 
 made of coarfer nets and cords, which are 
 not ftamped fine. Thefe two forts are ufed 
 for packing up the linen cloth at St, Quen- 
 tin, .Beauvois, and Troyes, becaufe their 
 dark brown colour fets off the whitenefs of 
 the cloth ; and it feems that the manufac- 
 turers put fome lamp-black in the engine, 
 to darken the colour. 
 
 The Paper, called Papier a Sacs, is made 
 of the coarfeft rags, and is fold by weight ; 
 it is furprifingly brittle, and the manufac- 
 turers are therefore fufpedted of mixing it 
 with fomething to encreafe the weight, or 
 it could not be fo tender. 
 
 At the latter end of the laft century the . 
 art of making Paper arrived to a great de- 
 gree of perfection in England and Holland, 
 fo that the fale in France has not fince been 
 fo extenfive, and many Paper-mills have 
 been fliut up, or converted to other 
 
 purpofes. 
 
[ 196 ] 
 
 purpofes. There were, a century ago, in the 
 provinces of Perigord and Angoumois 400 
 Paper-mills, and now there are riot one 
 hundred remaining. But the exportation 
 of Paper from France remains neverthelefs 
 very confiderable; and it ftill manufa&ures, 
 after England and Germany, the largeft 
 quantity of Paper of any country in Europe. 
 It exports very large quantities of all forts-, 
 chiefly that manufactured for Paper-hang- 
 ings, to the United Provinces of America, 
 for which reafon, on the 29th of Decem- 
 ber 1787, the exportation-duty on paper 
 ihipped for that country was not only 
 taken off, but alfo the excife returned. At 
 Montargis is the largeft paper-mill, erected 
 to work with 30 vats, which would confume 
 l,62O,000lb. of rags, and I35,OOOlb. of fize, 
 but want of water, and the quality thereof, 
 has prevented its working to its full extent. 
 At Vougeot, in Burgundy, is another large 
 mill, with 12 engines and 20 vats, erected 
 by Mr. Defventes, of which Mr. De La- 
 
 lande 
 
[ 197 ] 
 
 lande has furnifhed the public with a com- 
 plete defcription, and the drawings of all 
 its parts and machineries. 
 
 The printing and writing-papers manufac- 
 tured in Auvergne are preferred to all other 
 French paper, except that manufactured 
 by Mathieu Johannot d'Annonay, which is 
 principally efteemed for printing copper- 
 plates. At Thiers are fifteen paper-mills* 
 which bring beautiful writing-paper to the 
 market ; and at Ambert, where there are 
 50 paper-mills, and in Angoumois, princi- 
 pally printing- paper is manufactured, of a 
 very good quality, the moft part of which 
 is fold at Bourdeaux, and exported to Hol- 
 land : it is not fized, but much ftronger 
 prefled. In Limoges are 51 paper-mills, 
 which work 66 vats. In Normandy, and 
 the environs of Rouen and Caen, are nume- 
 rous paper-mills. The valleys near Rouen 
 provides Paris principally with copy and 
 packing'paper. In the fmall compafs *of 
 
 three 
 
[ 1M ] 
 
 three leagues, near Rouen, are 34 paper- 
 mills ; and in a circle of 15 leagues, are 
 20 others. There were formerly many 
 more, fome of which were converted in 
 1748 to other purpofes, principally fulling- 
 mills. In the Franche-comte are 27 paper- 
 mills, which work with 30 vats, and are 
 fituated on the foot of rocks, where they 
 have a conftant fupply of clear water; 
 they export their Paper principally to 
 Switzerland. 
 
 The paper-manufaclure attained to perfec- 
 tion in France much fooner than in Holland 
 and England; which, with the cheapnefs 
 of labour, gave them a certain fuperiority 
 in foreign markets, which has gradually di- 
 miniihed, and will remain fo, if no new 
 improvements and inventions contribute to 
 its rife. Mr. Robert Lewis in France two 
 years ago difcovered a way to make, with 
 one man, and without fire, by means of 
 machines, meets of Paper of a very large 
 
 fize 3 
 
[ 199 ] 
 
 frze, even 1 2 feet wide, and 50 feet long. 
 He has obtained a patent *. 
 
 In France are ftill upwards of 500 Paper- 
 mills, which confume annually 20,000,000 
 
 weight 
 
 * This improvement in the art of making Paper will 
 ©ccafion a revolution in that manufacture, and if brought 
 to perfection, enable them to underfell in foreign mari- 
 kets, bccaufe three men are now required for every 
 fheet of paper : if now one man is able to make as expe- 
 ditioufly flieets of fuch a large fize, where upwards of 300 
 flieets may be cut out, it is of a very great advantage tp 
 the manufacturer, who will thereby be enabled to make 
 900 Iheets of paper with the fame expence of labour, as 
 he is now obliged to pay for a {ingle meet ; and moreover 
 lie will be able to furnifh perfect larger Iheets of paper, 
 than any other heretofore made, and which is much* 
 wifhed for, for drawing and fcveral other purpofes, 
 Mr. (jamble, who arrived in London about twelve 
 months ago, brought over feveral meets from Fi ance, ' 
 and has obtained a Patent which will in fome refpects 
 contribute to the introduction of this improvement in 
 the art of making paper in this country; others have 
 likewife for months paft employed agents in France, to 
 purchafe fuch machineries for ufe in this country, and 
 if brought to a greater perfection, there is no doubt, it 
 will be generally adopted and ufed in the Britifh Paper* 
 mills, and that their commerce will not be injured by 
 this difcovery in France. 
 
 o 
 
[ 200 ] 
 
 weight of rags and coarfe pftper fluff. In 
 Franche-Comte it was afcertained by the 
 exchequer, tKat 16,000 cwt. of rags were 
 collected within one year, of which 8,00a 
 were manufactured in that county, and 
 8,000 exported to other counties : asfranche- 
 Comte isonly about one twentieth part of 
 France, 320,000 cwt. of rags mult be annu- 
 ally collected in that country, and upwards 
 of one-third, or 14^000,000 weight are ftill 
 exported, notwithflanding the fevere pro- 
 hibition. 
 
 Jn Switzerland, efpecially in the princU 
 pality of Neufehatel (which belongs to the 
 King of Pruffia) and in the Cantons of Bern 
 and Bafil fevefal Paper-mills are now efta- 
 blrfhed, which manufacture very good Pa- 
 per, admired for its ftrength and whitenefs, 
 which diminifhes the importation from 
 France, and the manufactures at Pon- 
 tartier. The paper-mill of Mr. Blume, in 
 the canton of Bafil, has gained a fuperiority 
 
 . . ' sb in 
 
[ m 3 
 
 in that country, and produces copper-plate 
 paper equal to any manufactured in France. 
 
 The time when linen Paper came into 
 ufe in Italy remains likewife uncertain ; 
 and as all that has come to the knowledge 
 of the prefent time, cannot be fatisfa&orily 
 afcertained, I will therefore quote only 
 what riiay be regarded as authentic. The 
 fenate of Venice granted, the 19th of Auguft 
 1366", an exclufive privilege to the Paper- 
 mill at Trevifo, that no linen Paper-mavings 
 or offal mould be exported from Venice 
 than for the ufe of that mill; if now Sa- 
 vings from linen Paper exifted, it proves 
 the manufacture of that Paper muft have 
 been eftablifhed fome time before; a docu- 
 ment of a notary, in 1367, proves likewife 
 the ufe of linen Paper ; Maffei ftates, that 
 he is in pofleflfion of a family manufcript of 
 linen Paper, written in 1367, arid he at- 
 tempts therefore to appropriate the inven- 
 tion of Hnen Paper to Italy, notwithstanding 
 o % , it 
 
[ 20? ] 
 
 it appears more likely, that by the manu- 
 factures of cotton paper, the linen paper 
 has not been manufactured in Italy at fuch 
 an early period. In 1 374 the patent of the 
 manufacture at Trevifo, which proved fuc- 
 cefsful, was renewed by the fenate of Ve* 
 nice. An extenfiye commerce in Paper 
 was carried on at Venice for exportation. 
 The city of Gorlitz received, from 1376 
 to 1426", all its Paper from that country. 
 
 Angelus Roccha mentions a Paper manu- 
 facture at Foligni, exifting in the 16th cen- 
 tury ; and he fays, that at Fabriano was ma- 
 nufactured the beft large Paper; and at Fo- 
 ligni, the beft Paper of a fmall fize. The 
 Paper-mills at Fabriano are yet in efteem,and 
 there are the greateft number in Italy. In 
 the Pope's territory at Tivoli, Viterbo, Rbn- 
 ciglione, Bracciano, and Rome, are many 
 Paper-mills, but they do not make fo much 
 Paper as they might, from the quantity of 
 rags gathered in that country; and Schlozer 
 
 ftates, 
 
[ 205 ] 
 
 llates> that one million in weight is annually 
 exported to Genoa. The value is entered 
 at 100,000 fcudi, or crowns. 
 
 Venice exports large quantities of Paper 
 to the Levant,* and inferior aflbrtments 
 to the Auftrian dominions: at Colli, in 
 
 Tufcanyv 
 
 . * The commerce of Paper to Turkey is principally 
 carried on at Venice : the aflbrtments are white, thick, 
 and very clofe : the Turks cannot make ufe of any 
 weaker Paper, becaufe they ufe a reed for writing, which 
 is cut into the form of a pen. Thofe called fiorttto 
 and the three moons are in the greateft requeft, being 
 very ftrong and very heavy. The Jioretto is the mofl 
 fafhionable kind of Paper, and the deareft. The Turks 
 gum it, and brighten it with a polifhing-inftrument. 
 
 Next to Venice, Genoa is the place in Italy which 
 exports the greateft quantity of Paper to the Levant. 
 The Genoefe Papers are much lighter and not fo dear 
 as thofe of Venice : they are made ufe of in winter in- 
 ftead of window-glafs, for ceconomy. 
 
 Upon the whole, Italy fends Paper into Greece to 
 the amount of 25,000/. and into Turkey to the amount 1 
 of 250,000/. which ought to be noticed by our mer- 
 chants and Paper-manufaclurerSy and engage them in 
 a competition with the Italians in this important branch 
 of the Levant trade, principally as Marfeille has been, 
 of late years, the only place in France that can circulate 
 any of its' Papers in Turkey. 
 
 O 3 
 
[ 204 ] 
 
 Tufcany, is a mill which manufactures very 
 good Paper. In the environs of Turin are 
 feveral mills which furnifti fine Paper; one 
 Paper-maker in Venice is in porTeflion of 
 the fecret of covering his Paper with a var- 
 nifh, by which means the writings can be 
 eafily obliterated with a fponge, and he 
 has found an extend ve fale for this Paper. 
 The Genoefe had fome time ago monopo- 
 lized the Paper-trade of Italy, by manu- 
 facturing it of a fuperior quality and white- 
 nefs, and by ufing a particular fize, which 
 it is faid prevented its deftruclion by moths; 
 but this commerce is now greatly reduced. 
 
 Germany difputes with Italy the moft 
 ancient knowledge of cotton and linen Pa- 
 per. There were already in the 13th cen- 
 tury cotton and linen manufactories 
 eftabliihed, which exported large quanti- 
 ties of goods to Italy and to the Levant; 
 and it cannot therefore be furprifmg 
 that the art of inventing linen-rag Paper 
 
 is 
 
[ 205', J. 
 
 is judged to belong to Germany: but 
 nothing has been ascertained with cer- 
 tainty. The feveral ancient manufcripts 
 and pieces of linen Paper preferyed in Ger- 
 many do not pofitively afccrtain -.that the 
 firft manufacture was eftablifhed in that 
 country. There have been always quoted 
 two diplomas, to prove the age of the ufe 
 of linen Paper in Germany; the one is of 
 Count Adolphus the Fourth, of Schaum- 
 burgh, who therein confers in 1239 ort Rin- 
 teln the right and privileges of a city, and 
 which has been made known to antiquarians 
 by Profeflbr von Peftel at Leiden ; the other 
 is of the year 1303, which ProfefTor Popo- 
 witfch at Vienna declares to have feen in 
 the archives of the city of Windifchgraetz 
 in 1740. Both diplomas would be miilead- 
 ing others, if accepted as proofs of the an- 
 tiquity of linen Paper in Germany; that 
 at Windifchgraetz is only quoted by me- 
 mory, and the other of Rinteln is Hill more 
 o 4 fufpicious. 
 
[ 206 ] 
 
 fufpicious, and wants the day and month 
 when executed, which is found in all other 
 diplomas given by the faid Count Adolphus, 
 and according to Spangenberg and Bierling, 
 Rinteln did not receive the right and privi- 
 leges of a city till the year 1340, which is 
 101 years later. But one piece of Paper, 
 of 1308, which Mr. von Senkenberg fent, 
 in 1763, to Mr. Meerman, merits particu- 
 lar attention ; it was ftrong, white, pliable, 
 and had the marks of the wire-moulds, 
 which are the tokens of linen Paper; it was 
 neverthelefs glazed, and much refembied 
 parchment, which are tokens of cotton 
 Paper. The Royal Society of Sciences at 
 Gottingen judged therefore, if the date could 
 be taken as certain, that the epocha could 
 alfo be taken for the true time when linen 
 Paper was invented, notwithstanding Pro- 
 feffor Murray believes it to be mixed Paper, 
 of linen and cotton, manufactured at 
 fabriano. If it ihould be linen Paper 
 
 manu- 
 
f 207 ] 
 
 manufaaured in Germany, it muft have 
 been, according to their opinion, on the 
 frontiers of Italy. 
 
 Von Stetten is of opinion that linen 
 Paper was manufa&ured at Auglburgh ear- 
 lier than in any other part of Germany. 
 That city was the firft which eftablifhed 
 considerable linen-manufa&ories, and carried 
 on in ancient times an extenfive commerce 
 in linen. Neverthelefs, the eftablimment 
 of mills cannot be afcertained, nor the pre- 
 cife time when the firft paper-mill was 
 built on the Sinkel-ftream. Longolius at 
 HcfF endeavours to eftablifh it as a facl, that 
 linen Paper has been made at Augfburgh at. 
 the commencement of the fourteenth cen- 
 tury, by a diploma in the archives of the 
 Prince of Onolzback, by the Bifhop Frede- 
 rick of Augfburgh, which is without date, 
 and it ftates that the faid bifhop was of the 
 houfe of Speet von Thurnegg, who reigned 
 between the years 1307 and 1330, that the 
 
 Paper 
 
[ 208 ] 
 
 Paper mull therefore have been manufac- 
 tured within or before that period. This di- 
 ploma is, on the ftri&eft examination, declared 
 to be Paper msfde from linen; but Meer- 
 man ftill retains his doubts, becaufe another 
 Bimop of the name of Frederick reigned in 
 Augftrorgh in 1414, and that there are 
 yet exifting in Augfburgh pubjick accounts 
 up to the year 1330 all on cotton Paper, 
 in which repeatedly expenfes are brought 
 in pro papi/ro, without mentioning if for 
 linen or cotton Paper. 
 
 That Pomerania had an early knowledge 
 of Paper, has been fatisfaclorily proved by 
 John Samuel Heringen, ProfefFor at Stettin, 
 He Quotes a long lift of fignatures of the 
 notaries to certify numerous diplomas from 
 the Dukes of Pomerania, between the years 
 1263 and 1373. But we cannot take him 
 for a fufficient judge of linen and cotton 
 Paper, and therefore not decifive in opinion. 
 A. copy of a document of 1289, written in 
 
 1315 
 
[ 209 J 
 
 J315 in monkim characters, containing a 
 ' donation from Bifhop Hermanzus to the 
 convent of nuns at Coflin, has the water- 
 mark of a bull's head with a crofs on the 
 top of a pike, raifed between the horns; 
 and Heringen believes, that this water- 
 mark is an undeniable proof, that this Paper 
 was made in Pomerania, in the diocefe of 
 the Biihop of Camin, and that the fign of 
 the bull's head muft be the arms of the 
 family von Wachold, and that the crofs is 
 the fign of the bilhop. But this opinion 
 mull be erroneous, even if we admit the 
 water-mark to be a proof in what country 
 the Paper has been made. The bull's head 
 is the arms of Mecklenburgh, and the 
 -German princes are jealous of permitting 
 their arms to be ufed by any branch of 
 the nobility, not belonging to their own 
 houfe. • The water-mark, in the firft inven- 
 tion of linen-paper, may have fignified in 
 what parts the Paper has been made, but 
 has been fince ufed to'diilinguim the quality 
 . ' • • '. 'of 
 
of the Paper, or in which mill it was 
 manufactured. 
 
 The water-mark of a bull's head in the 
 Paper, Which is not in any Italian Paper, 
 and which fcientific men take as an unde- 
 niable token of books printed in the firft 
 printing-office of Fauft, is only the firft 
 Water-mark made in the moft ancient Ger- 
 man linen Paper, and is found in all ancient 
 German manufcripts, and the firft printed 
 books, with fome alterations and additions: 
 the firft manufactured Paper of Germany is 
 of the year 1312, with the water-mark of 
 a plain bull's head, which may have been ' 
 fmce adopted by Paper-makers of other 
 countries, as it isftill in practice with many 
 forts of Paper that are in great demand; for 
 example, the words Pro Patria, which are 
 water-marks in Paper like our foolfcap, 
 originated in Holland, but it is likewife 
 made ufe of in French and German mills ; 
 and if the fign of a bull's or bullock's head, 
 
 which 
 
[ 211 ] 
 
 which are truly the arms of Mecklenburgh, 
 is to be taken as a proof that the firft Paper 
 was made in that country which ufes thefe 
 arms, then is Mecklenburgh entitled to the 
 honour of this difcovery. This is fupported 
 by the fituation of Mecklenburgh being 
 on the frontiers of Pomerania. 
 
 In the archives at Wolgaft is a document 
 on linen Paper of 1393. In that of the 
 hofpital at Kaufbeuren are two of 1318, 
 and in the archives of the city feveral others 
 oF 1324, 1526, and 1333. Von Murr found 
 in Nuremberg linen Paper of 1319. The 
 moll: ancient linen Paper preferved. in the 
 Netherlands, is the copy of a Bible in 
 verfe, by Jacob Maerlant, in the library 
 of Ifaac le Long, which Meerman faw . 
 and examined, when the library was fold 
 by publick auction at Amfterdam, in .1744. 
 A manufcript in Dutch, " Het boek der 
 Byen" of 1330 written on linen Paper, is in 
 the library of Hullian. At Hohenloe is a 
 
 document 
 
[ 212 ] 
 
 document written in 1333, on the Friday 
 after the Afcennon. In the convent at 
 Quedlinburgh is a bill of feoffment, granted 
 by the Emperor Charles the fourth, to the 
 Abbefs Ermingarde in 1 339. Bohuflaus Bal- 
 binus afferts that in the archives at Prague 
 are preferved feveral diplomas written before 
 1340, which have induced many to believe 
 that the firft linen Paper was made in Bohe- 
 mia. In the library of the Minfter at Fulda, 
 are preferved with the manufcripts and 
 letters of celebrated men, fome Deer eta 
 Judicialia of the ancient abbots from 1341 
 to 1491, all written on linen Paper and 
 with feals. John Daniel Fladd in HeideJf* 
 berg difcovered* feveral documents written 
 on linen Paper in the fourteenth century, 
 the moft ancient of which was in 1342. The 
 Hoyal Society of Sciences at Gottingen ad- 
 judged to him a prize-medal of 25 ducats, 
 for the difcovery of the moft ancient linen 
 Paper. Helmfladt has exhibited a docu- 
 ment of 1343; it is a little deed of m\ 
 
 acre 
 
[ 213 ] 
 
 acre of land, which a prieft of Helmftadt 
 purehafed, and on which are two feals; 
 and as he was in fear for the lafting of his 
 document, the Paper being fo thin, he ap- 
 plied to the magiftxate for a duplicate, on 
 parchment, which is only two years younger. 
 In the archives at Plaflenburgh is a record 
 with afeal, dated 1347 ; and at Magdeburgh 
 are feveral of 1350. Qualenbrinck at 
 Utrecht difcovered, in the bailiwick of 
 Utrecht, three documents of the Teutonic 
 order, two of 1 35 3, and one of 1 369. Fladd 
 difcovered another document on linen Paper 
 of 1377, on the back of which is a wax 
 feal; the Paper is rough, and the water- 
 marks very plain. Gatterer at Gottingen 
 found in the farhily archives of Holzfchuher 
 at Nuremberg a linen Paper document, 
 with the feal on wax of Frederic Holzfchu- 
 her, Knight of the Teutonic Order. The 
 library of Paulin at Leipzig poffeffes a manu- 
 fcript of the poet Hugo Trimberg, written 
 in 1391. 
 
 It 
 
[ 214 ] 
 
 It feems, by the numerous relics of an- 
 cient linen Paper in Germany, that it came 
 into ufe there at the beginning of the 14th 
 century, and Ulman Stromer of Nurem- 
 berg, who died in 1407, began in 1360 to 
 write the firft work ever publifhed on the 
 art of Paper-making, and eftablifhed a 
 large Paper-mill in 1390. He employed a 
 great number of perfons, amongft whom 
 were three Italians, Francifcus, Marcus de 
 Marchia, and Bartholomaeus ; all of them 
 were obliged to make oath not to teach 
 any perfon the art of Paper-making, or 
 to make Paper for their own account. He 
 employed another perfon of the name of 
 George Thirman, who bound himfelf only 
 for ten years. In the firft year he employed 
 two rollers, which fet eighteen dampers in 
 motion ; but when he would in the fecond 
 year add another roller, he was oppofed by. 
 the Italians whom he employed, who would 
 not eonfent to the enlarging of his manu- 
 facture ; but they were imprifoned by the 
 
 magiftrates, 
 
[ 215 ] 
 
 magiftrates, and then they fubmitted by 
 renewing their oaths. 
 
 All the Paper-mills erected, fince the art 
 of printing has been invented by Kofter, of 
 Haaerlem, in 1430, cannot be brought 
 forward as a teflimony to prove the inven- 
 tion of linen Paper-making in Germany; 
 but, after the noble invention of printing 
 (by which ideas can be fo eafily conveyed 
 and difperfed) came in practice, the rapid 
 extenfion and the multiplication of printing 
 made the increafe of Paper-mills neceffary. 
 In the environs of the Rhine, in Swabia, 
 Franconia," Alfatia, .Mifnia, and Bohemia, 
 are the greateft number of Paper-mills; In 
 the Hanoverian dominions are 34, and 
 Beyer ftates that there are in Germany 500 
 Paper-mills* (thofe in Auftria and Pruffia 
 not included), which manufacture at leaft 
 ' 2,500,000 
 
 * I fubjoin here an account of fome^ Paper-mills in 
 Germany, as far as I cbuld obtain knowledge thereof. 
 
[ <216 ] 
 
 2,500.000 reams of Paper. According to 
 
 Count 
 
 1. In the Circle of Upper Saxony, in the Chur-Mark . 4 
 
 Chur-Saxony 80 
 
 Swedifli-Pomerania a 
 
 2. In the Circle of Lower Saxony, in the Hanoverian 
 
 Dominions 34, 
 
 Mecklenburgh . , . . ; 6 
 
 Near Hamburgh . a 
 
 3. In the Circle of Weftphalia, in the Principality of 
 
 Minden 1 
 
 County of Lippe . 6 
 
 Abbey of Werden 3 
 
 County of Tecklenburg and Linden . * . . . 3 
 In the Circle of the Upper Rhine, in the County of 
 
 Ifenburg . . a 
 
 Catzenellenbogen ........... a 
 
 Hanau-Munzenberg 1 
 
 In the Circle of Franconia, in the County of Henneberg 3 
 
 6. In the Circle of Suabia, near Auglburg 4 
 
 Ulm 1 
 
 7. In the Circle of Bavaria, near Regenlburg , . . . i 
 
 8. In Bohemia 
 
 9. In Silefia, in the Environs of Hirfchberg .... 4 
 
 Sagan . . . J ... a 
 
 Wartenberg ............. a 
 
 Schweidnitz .:.«....;. • . . ia 
 
 Which amount to 256 
 
 It is therefore apparent that there muft be more than 
 goo Paper-mills in Germany. 
 
 [ ' r Large 
 
 l 
 
[ 217 ] 
 
 Count Ewald von Hertzberg, there were, in 
 1785, in the Pruflian dominions 800Paper- 
 manufaclures, the revenue thereof produced 
 200;000 dollars annually. 
 
 Large fums of money go notwithftanding 
 from Germany to foreign countries, for the 
 purchafe of Paper, becaufe the Paper- 
 makers make in general coarfe Paper chiefly 
 for printing, and the finer forts and writing- 
 paper are imported. In the port of Ham- 
 burgh were imported, in 1782, 7,439 bales 
 (of 10 reams and upwards,) 4,330 reams* 
 four calks,, and three cheiis, with Paper. 
 That city has no more than two Paper-mills, 
 of two vats each, which confume 6,000 cwt. 
 
 of 
 
 Large quantities of Paper-materials are loft in Ger- 
 many, becau/e the coffins in which they lay the deceafed 
 are filled in the moft part of Germany with Paper- 
 (havings; the bodies are likewife clothed with ft lines 
 ftiift or fliirt, and are laid on a linen meet. 
 
 Confiscated books are burnt in Germany* 
 
 P Z 
 
[ 218 ] * 
 
 of rags, and make principally dark purple " 
 paper for the fugar-bakers The annual in- 
 crease* of printing preflfes, and the want of 
 rags and Paper-ftufE, has engaged the Paper- 
 makers to make many more reams of Paper 
 from one cwt. of rags than formerly, which 
 renders the prefent German printing-paper 
 very difagreeable to the printers and readers. 
 
 There are in the kingdom of Sweden no 
 more than 24 Paper-mills. In Stockholm 
 alone Were imported, in 1781, 18,579 reams 
 of Paper: 8,142 reams for writing, 5,786* 
 reams for printing, and 4,651 ream| of 
 packing-paper, and coarfer forts* 
 
 When the Czar, Peter Alexiewitz, vifited 
 Drefden, in the year 1712, he faw the 
 Paper-mill belonging to Mr. Schuchart* 
 and made a few lheets of Paper with his 
 own hands; he was fo pleafed with an 
 ' art which furprifes every perfon who 
 vifits a Paper-mill for the firft time, that 
 
 he 
 
[ 2l| ] 
 
 he immediately engaged PapeV-makers, 
 whom, he fent to Mofcow, to eftablifti Pa- 
 per-mills at his own expenfe : and Mr. 
 Pfeiffer, a German, erected, with the af- 
 fiftance of a carpenter froni Commothau, a 
 very fine Paper-manufa&ory ; to which the 
 faid Emperor granted great privileges. At 
 Jaroflow is now a Paper-mill, with 28 en- 
 gines and 70 vats, which manufactures 
 weekly 1,100 reams of Paper, and confumes 
 annually 800 tons of rags ; and another 
 which works 13 vats by 13 engines: they 
 chiefly, make Paper for Paper-hangings, 
 which they fell at Mofcow. There are 2$ 
 Paper-mills in the Ruffian empire, and, 
 notwithstanding they are not in want of 
 rags (the exportation of which is prohi-. 
 bited), they import annually Paper to the 
 amount of 220,000 rubles. * 
 
 In 
 
 * The duty to be paid on imported Paper is as follows i 
 for writing-paper, from 2 to 5 rubles per ream; coloured 
 Paper from * to 4 rubles; blotting-paper, 3 rubles; all 
 P 3 Paper 
 
[ 220 ] 
 
 In the government of Kaluga are feveral 
 Paper-mills; and, according to Wafilii 
 Szujew, all offal from preparing and 
 weaving hemp and flax, with the fpoilt 
 yarn in the linen and fail-cloth manufacto- 
 ries, are delivered to the Paper-mills. 
 
 At the commencement of the prefent 
 century there were very few Paper-mills in 
 Holland, and the Dutch imported great 
 quantities of Paper till 1723 from St. 
 Malo, Nantz, Rochelle, and Bordeaux; 
 but, fince that time, they have ere&ed 
 numerous mills, and carried on an extenfive 
 commerce, which has fuffered greatly fince 
 that country has been governed by the 
 French Republic. In the province of 
 
 Holland 
 
 Paper u fed for making eards, 3 rubles; royal, 1 ruble 
 €0 copecs, to a rubles; ploughed letter-paper, in 
 quarto, 1 ruble B 5 copecs; and if with gilt edges, 
 * ruble So copecs; printing-paper, 75 copecs; pafte.' 
 boards for the ufe of manufa&ures, 60 copecs for a 
 Mndred, 
 
[ 221 ] 
 
 Holland were, in 1770, eleven large and 
 confiderabie Paper-mills. In Gelderland 
 are a great many, but iome fo fmall that 
 they are only able to make 400 reams of 
 Paper annually : and there are alfo water- 
 mills with Hampers, like thofe in Germany, 
 But in the province of Holland there are 
 wind-mills, with cutting and grinding en- 
 gines, which do more in two hours than the 
 others in twelve. In Saardam, a thoufand 
 perfons are employed in Paper-xnaking, 
 Holland produces not one tenth of the 
 quantity of rags ufed in that country for 
 Paper-manufacturing, which are fmuggled 
 in from France, and imported from Ger- 
 many, Italy, and Portugal; the latter of 
 which are of the coarfeft kind. The Dutch 
 are chiefly jealous with refpeft to this ma- 
 nufacture, and the exportation, of moulds is 
 prohibited under pain of death. They 
 export large quantities of Paper, principally 
 dark purple, to Hamburgh. From 20 to 
 30,000 reams are annually exported to 
 p 4 Sweden ; 
 
[ 2£2 ] 
 
 Sweden; and the exportation to France, 
 England, Denmark, and Ruflia, is not in- 
 confiderable, .becaufe they manufacture 
 fome forts fuperior to thofe manufactured 
 in other countries. 
 
 I conclude by obferving, that they 
 chiefly manufacture writing-paper, and 
 Paper of a dark purple colour, for packing 
 fugar-loaves. for their own printing- 
 prenes, .they purchafe Paper from France 
 and Germany. 
 
 We are obliged to Mr. Meerman's in- 
 defatigable perfeverance for knowing that 
 in 1308 linen Paper was ufed: the dis- 
 covery of this invention may have been 
 made fome years fooner, but the precife 
 period cannot be , pofitively afcertained ; 
 nor in what country this invention ori- 
 ginated. 
 
 In Italy is preferved linen Paper, of 
 
 1367,; 
 
[ 223 ] 
 
 1367, and in Spain, of the fame year; 
 in England, of 1342; in France, of 1314; 
 and in Germany, of 1 308 ; it is therefore 
 likely, that Germany has the honour of its 
 invention. 
 
 Ducarell ftates in his letter to Mr. Meer- 
 man, *that, in England, many documents 
 from the year 1282 to 1347 are preferved; 
 but he acknowledges that it is impoffible to 
 afcertain, whether thefe manufcripts are 
 written on Paper made from linen, without 
 any mixture of cotton. Prideaux quotes a 
 regifter of acts' from John Cranden, of the 
 J 4th year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, 
 written on linen Paper in 1320 ; but it has 
 been determined, that, in many inftarices, 
 he had not a competent judgment to afcer- 
 tain the true quality. Mr. Aftle, who 
 wanted neither knowledge, nor the oppor- 
 tunity of making more effectual inquiries, 
 is filent as to the time when the linen Paper 
 came into ; ufe in England ; all that he 
 
 remarks 
 
[ 224 ] 
 
 remarks is merely a repetition of what Pn- 
 deaux has ftated. There is in the library at 
 Canterbury, according to the Philofophical 
 Tranfaclions of the year 1703 (No. 288, 
 page 515), an inventory written on linen 
 Paper, fpecifying the inheritance of Henry, 
 who was prior of Chriit-Church, and died in 
 1340. Dr. Wendeborn ftates, that, in the 
 Britifli Mufeum, there are pieces of linen 
 Paper from the Cottonian library, written 
 in the reign of Edward III. in 1342; and 
 he believes that if the manufcripts which it 
 pofTerTes were carefully examined, there 
 might be found others of a more ancient 
 date. 
 
 As nothing farther has yet been ascer- 
 tained ^ or come to public knowledge, we 
 muft take thefe manufcripts of 1342 for 
 the oldeft proof of the period when linen 
 Paper came into ufe in England. 
 
 The art of manufacturing Paper from 
 
 linen 
 
[ 225 ] 
 
 linen and linen-rags was only eftablimed in 
 England in the latter part of the 16th cen- 
 tury. All Paper ufed before that time was 
 imported from Holland and France, and me 
 paid, fo lately as the year 1663, 100,000/. 
 to the latter country, for imported Paper. 
 A German, of the name of Spielman, had 
 the happinefs, under the reign of Queen 
 Elizabeth in 1588, to erect at Dartford, iri 
 Kent, the firft Paper-mill ; for which he 
 received from her Majelty the honour of 
 Knighthood. 
 
 It is recorded in the Craftfman, No. 910, 
 that King William III. granted the Hugue- 
 nots from France, refuged in England, 
 (Bifcoc and others,) a patent for eftablifh- 
 ing Paper-manufa<5tories; and parliament 
 granted to them other privileges: but, from 
 a want of unrelaxed perfeverance, oeconomy, 
 and induftry, their undertaking met with 
 the fate that often attends new efta- 
 blimments : it went to ruin, notwithstand- 
 ing 
 
[ 226 ] 
 
 ing its fuccefs in the firft few years ; and 
 the manufacture of Paper in general de- 
 cayed, until the year 1713, when Thomas 
 Watkin, a ftationer in London, brought it 
 in a mort time into great repute and per- 
 fection ; and it is a merit attributable to 
 him, that the prefervation of this important, 
 moft ufeful, and necefTary of all arts has 
 given rife to the eftabliftiment of the 
 numerous Paper-mills that England now 
 poflejflTes, which manufacture very large 
 quantities of Paper of all forts in the 
 greateft perfection : not only a great part of 
 which is exported to foreign countries, but 
 the importation of this commodity is now 
 confined to a few affortments only, of which 
 there cannot be a doubt, that thefe kinds of 
 Paper yet imported, will foon be manufac- 
 tured in this country of an equal quality, 
 becaufe, by perfeverance, convenience in 
 the conftruction of thefe manufactures, 
 fuperior engines, prefTes and machines, 
 and improved moulds, the indaftrious 
 
 manu- 
 
[ 227 ] 
 
 manufacturers have been aflifted and ena- 
 bled to give to EngUfti Paper its actual pre- 
 eminence. 
 
 Ireland has, during many years, offered 
 and paid premiums to, encourage thofe 
 concerned in Paper- making, for the manu- 
 facture of the bed and the largeft quantities 
 of Paper ; but notwithstanding fuch incite- 
 ment, and that provifions and labour are 
 there cheaper than in England, it is under 
 the neceffity of, importing confiderable 
 quantities from hence, and paying a higher 
 price than for their home-manufactured 
 Paper. 
 
 Scotland manufactures good printing* 
 paper, which greatly furpafles that of the 
 Germans in whitenefs and ftrength. — 
 Meflrs. Foulis, printers at Glafgow, are 
 laid to export annually on an average 
 two millions of copies of books, and it 
 muft be prefumed that they are partly in- 
 debted 
 
[ 228 ] 
 
 debted to the fuperiority of the Scotch 
 Paper, to that of Germany and the 
 Northern countries, for the pre-eminence 
 to which their printing-houfe has been 
 raifed. 
 
 England, which does not furaim fuch 
 confiderable quantities of rags as might 
 have been expected from the number of 
 its inhabitants, and their fuperior cleanli- 
 nefs in linen, notwithftanding, confumes 
 at prefent, in its extenfive and numerous 
 Paper-mills, as many rags as any other 
 country in Europe, Germany and France 
 excepted. The revenue arifing from 
 the excife-duty on Paper amounted, in 
 1799, to 140,000/. If we now calculate 
 that fix-fifteenth parts of the whole 
 quantity of Paper made in England 
 is writing and printing Paper, which pays 
 H\d. per pound excife-duty;* that five- 
 fifteenths 
 
 * Since the above was written, the duty on Paper 
 has been doubled, and commenced in April i8oi» 
 
[ 229 ] 
 
 fifteenths are of the fecond clafs of Paper, 
 paying 1 d. per pound ; and that, of the 
 remaining four- fifteenth parts, one-half pays 
 a halfpenny per pound, and the other half 
 nothing; we find that 24,000,000 pounds 
 weight of rags and other Paper-ftuff is an- 
 nually manufactured into Paper.* 
 
 One reafon that may be afligned is, that 
 they are not fo carefully gathered as in 
 other countries; but another and more 
 powerful one is, that the greater! part of 
 the English families are able to live more 
 comfortably than the people of other coun- 
 tries, and think the faving of rags not worth 
 their notice, or think them of fo trifling a 
 value, that a great part is burnt or deftroyed. 
 But, as I have before ftated, that the Britifh 
 nation is in part indebted for their wealth, 
 and pre-eminence above all other nations, 
 to the manufacture of Paper, and the art 
 
 of 
 
 * The importation of rags from the continent, ia 
 $799» was 6,307,117 lb. 
 
[ 230 ] 
 
 of printing, Writing, and ^rawing ; and as 
 it is certain, that the quantity of Paper 
 manufactured in England is the next to that 
 of wool, cotton, and linen, and employs not 
 only many thousands of hands in the mills, 
 but gives bread to ftationers, authors, prin- 
 ters, bookfellers, and bookbinders, which 
 are fo numerous with their dependents, that 
 it may be taken for granted, that this ma- 
 nufacture gives livelihood to a greater num- 
 ber of pertons than any other; every head 
 of a family mould therefore consider this 
 branch of commerce and revenue as a na- 
 tional concern, and follow the example - of 
 the Dutch families, who lay by all old rags 
 clean warned, and £ell them aflbrted annu~ 
 ally to the agents of the Paper-mills; and 
 there can be no doubt but the faving of rags 
 and wafte Paper in England would equally 
 contribute to the advantage of this valuable 
 manufacture. 
 
 By the act of parliament, which prohibits, 
 
 undes 
 
t 231 ] 
 
 Under a penalty, the burial of the dead in 
 any other drefs than wool, may be faved 
 about 250,000 pounds weight of linen an- 
 nually*; which in other countries perifh in 
 the grave : but this is of little confequence 
 relative to the great consumption of rags, 
 and does not form more than one hun- 
 dredth part. 
 
 The want of this article obliges us there- 
 fore to import the quantity required for our 
 mills from abroad, until other fubftitutes 
 can be converted to anfwer the purpofe of 
 rags: till thofe are brought. to perfection 
 and generally adopted : and until the Paper 
 manufactured thereof is univerfally pro- 
 tected, by every well-wifher to his country. 
 The value of the Paper manufactured in 
 1784 in England has been ftated to amount 
 t© 800,000/. and it will not be over-rated 
 
 Q_ if 
 * Calculating that out of thirty perfons living, on the 
 average, one dies annually, and that one pound weight of 
 linen might be ufed at every burial, arid the number of 
 inhabitants feven millions and a half. 
 
[ m ] 
 
 jf we give the prefent aflnual value, by rea r 
 fop of the increafe of the ufe of Paper and 
 of its price, at one million and a half fter- 
 lingj which, after it has gone through the 
 hands of the ftationers, and is finimed by * 
 the authors, artifts, engravers, printers, and 
 bookbinders, and put up for fale by the 
 book and print-fellers and ftationers receives 
 fuch additional value, that its amount may 
 he cftimated at fome millions more. 
 
 parliament has therefore, for the fupport 
 of this manufacture enacted, that rags, old 
 pets, and ropes (which are ufed formanu* 
 facturing pafte-hoards, wrappers, and pack- 
 ing-paper), can be imported duty free ; and 
 laft feflion, it Ukewife allowed the free im- 
 portation of all wafte^paper, provided it is 
 torn into pieces fo that it cannot he ufed 
 otherwife than for being re^manufaclured. 
 Thefe meafures will in fonie degree affift the 
 Manufacture recently eftabliuied for that 
 purpofe ; but notwithftanding cannot fuffi- 
 
 . ciently 
 
I 2$3 ] 
 
 ciently obviate the lamentable fcarcity, and 
 greatly reduce the jprice of rags and other 
 paper-ftirff: the confomption of the Paper 
 manufactured of the latter materials (old 
 * nets and ropes) has likewife increafed very 
 much, and muft. be the more confiderable as 
 ttoe commerce of, this country is extended. 
 
 Thefe circumftances, and the eftabliih- 
 ment of the > Regemrating-Paper- Manufac- 
 ture brought to my recolleclrion what 
 Bruyfet, Levier de Lifle, Fonde, Gleditch, 
 Greaves, Guetard, Klaproth, Linnaeus, Clarus 
 Mayer, Reaumur, Schaffer, Seba, Stakel, 
 Strange, and other fcientific men had no- 
 ticed, and their ideas on fubftitutes for paper- 
 materials. Thefe authors have ftated, that 
 as cotton, flax, and hemp, are the origin of 
 
 paper 
 
 * The re-manufaauring of Paper has been long prac- 
 tifed by the Chinefe ; and there is, in one of the fuburbs 
 of Pebin/aconfideraWe Paper-manufaaure forthat pur- 
 pofe, which gives employ to numerous perfons who 
 collect wafte-paper, which is pur chafed at a low price. 
 
[ 234 ] 
 
 and rags, other vegetables of a tender and 
 pliable nature might probably be converted 
 into a mucilaginous pulp, and adopted as a 
 substitute for rags in the manufaaure of 
 Paper; and farther, that thofe vegetables 
 that are of a brittle and harm nature, but 
 which can be obtained in large quantities 
 and at moderate prices, might by art and 
 perfeverance be made tender, without de- 
 ftroying that quality which is neceflary to. 
 be retained in paper-ftufF. It is a grand 
 defideratum, that thefe fuggeftions mould be 
 brought into etTea,- and it is furprizing that 
 the obfervations of the authors above quoted 
 Ihould not have been earlier attended to by 
 fcientific men, or rather by intelligent Paper- 
 makers, who had the road thus opened to 
 them for their inveftigation : for, ihould any 
 man have difcovered a commodity, which 
 could be cheaply and plentifully fupplied 
 in this country, as a fubftitute for rags, &c„ 
 to mould unexceptionable Paper, fuch a 
 man would amply merit the approbation and 
 
 encou- 
 
I 235 ] 
 
 encouragement of the public, notwith (land- 
 ing thejealoufy of thofe, who are acquainted 
 with, and followed the hints of the above- 
 mentioned authors, but failed in the fame 
 purfuit* 
 
 Dr. Schaffer, it is true, worked with per* 
 feverance, induftry, and ardour, to prove 
 that numerous vegetables were qualified to 
 make Paper, and his fame will be immorta- 
 lized ; 
 
 * Many hints have been given by others, and princi- 
 pally by an ingenious literary gentleman, long refident 
 in India, to J. Sewell, of Cornhill, on the ufefulnefs of 
 many Eaft-India plants, not only for making Paper, buf 
 likewife for the manufafture of linen cloth, fail cloth, 
 and cordage; but they have not yet been attended to, 
 notwithftanding Mr. Sewell has neither fpared expenfe 
 nor trouble to propagate thefe hints. Shall now a perfon 
 who purfues fuch hints.and is by perfeverance fuccefsf uf, 
 in making ufelefs articles valuable in manufactures and 
 commerce, for the benefit of his country, not be enti- 
 tled to merit, and the fupport of the publjck, becaufe 
 the firft idea has been communicated to him by others? 
 Linen cloth has been manufactured from flax daring 
 feveral centuries, before the art of making fine lace of 
 the fame fubftance has been difcovered : this improve- 
 ment was neverthelefc confidered as a new invention 
 
f 239 ] 
 
 lizecl ; but, notwithstanding that this author 
 theorized on the fubject with great ability, 
 he accornplifhed nothing fa4asfa*$tory by hte 
 experiments, which only tended to prove 
 that various vegetables could probably be f& 
 mollified as to make ufeful Paper with the 
 addition of a fmall quantity of rags : neither 
 himfelf, nor any perfon who has followed 
 him, has ever been able to make it at all 
 without rags, or, even by mixture, fit for 
 printing, writing, paper-hanging, and other 
 purpofes : it has only been fit for packing 
 paper, and always brittle. 
 
 Travellers affirm that the Chinefe and Ja- 
 panese ufe a lye in their Paper-manufacto- 
 ries, by which they convert plants* the bark 
 of trees, and feveral other vegetables, into a 
 pulp,* which is afterwards moulded into a 
 large and beautiful Paper: this Paper, how- 
 ever, notwithftanding its apparent fmooth- 
 
 nefsj, 
 
 * All Paper made in the province of Che-Kyang is 
 manufa&ured from the ftrawof rice and other grain. 
 
£ 237 ] 
 
 oefs, is very liable to break. No author has 
 fatisfa&orily described the ingredients that 
 are ufed in making this lye, or the farther 
 procefs that vegetables muft undergo, before 
 they are fufficientty macerated and reduced 
 to a Hate to be formed into Paper: and all 
 farther information has been cautioufly con- 
 cealed from us. 
 
 Nature, which is ever bountiful in fup- 
 plying all our wants, has not only provided 
 us with numerous materials for making. 
 Paper, but alfo lhewn us in what manner 
 vegetable fubftances may be formed into 
 Paper, by the operation of Nature itfelf, of 
 which G. A. Senger at Reck has given us 
 knowledge in his Moji Ancient Record of 
 the Fabrication of Paper, dij covered in Na- 
 ture. It is the plant which has received the 
 name of conferva, from Linnaeus and other 
 naturalifls who followed Pliny ; which is to 
 bejound plentifully on the top of the wa- 
 ter in brooks, rivulets* ponds, ditches, &c- 
 
 Men 
 
[ 238 ] 
 
 Men are little inclined to afcribe their 
 knowledge to any other caufe than to their 
 own inveftigation, and mo'ft difcoveries have 
 therefore, by manifold and exquifite im- 
 provements, obtained, by our genius, the 
 appearance which might lead us to con- 
 fider all the perfections to which arts, fci- 
 ences, and manufactures are arrived, as if 
 they had been invented and brought into 
 exiftence entirely by ourfelves, without the 
 aid of various accidental occurrences in the 
 ceconomy of Nature. All thefe difcoveries 
 neverthelefs derive their origin from nothing 
 elfe but the appearances in Nature, and 
 men are confequently but the imitators of 
 Nature, although in the moft laudable fenfe. 
 
 This would require a more particular 
 and more extended inveftigation than I am 
 willing to deliver ; and an expert philofo- 
 pher would only be fit for fuch an under- 
 taking, in order to fupprefs the prejudice 
 and felf-conceit of thofe who appropriate 
 
 their 
 
their inventions alone to their own extended 
 wifdom ; and to exhibit men in their feeble* 
 nefs, being entirely dependent on Nature. 
 
 Nature, which lays open to every «eye, 
 is the moft excellent fchool of all for 
 acquiring wifdom ; me forms the philoso- 
 pher, and is the firft channel by which the 
 artift and chemift obtain knowledge and 
 ability; an aftonifhing light dreams forth 
 from the active itage of Nature into our 
 organs, and her aim is to promote, ftep by 
 ftep, decency and perfection in the moral 
 world, if attended to, comprehended, and 
 properly applied. It appears, therefore, 
 fbange to the ftrict obferver of the pheno- 
 mena of Nature, why fo many of our arts 
 have not beeji fooner discovered and brought 
 into practice. 
 
 I do not look for thefe caufes in the 
 myfteries wherein Nature often cloaks her 
 work, but rather in man himfelf, and in 
 
 r his 
 
[ 24,0 ] 
 
 his remiflhefs, often occafioned by circum- 
 ftances, and owing to the little attention he 
 is accuftomed to give to tier phenomena. 
 
 Many of our learned men, in order to 
 rectify and enlarge their ideas, confine their 
 diligence and obfervations only to their 
 books, neglecting to carl: a penetrating eye 
 on the fecret and active operations of Na- 
 ture ; and a man of a fearching fpirit may 
 be fometimes milled to afpire to fuperna- 
 tural things, and live and act in the fpecu- 
 jations of an imaginary fphere, and leave, 
 according to his imagination, the lower 
 regions to ideots. Nature is the bell' 
 teacher: the information obtained from 
 books muft be confidered as fecondary ; and 
 hints given to an active mind can only be 
 brought to perfection by combining the 
 inftruction received from books with thofe 
 which we obtain from Nature in greater 
 perfection. To this we muft join the incli- 
 nations which feem to be natural to us, 
 
 that 
 
[ 241 j 
 
 that we fcarcely look for things of im- 
 portance in our proximity, but are rather 
 inclined to fearch for them at a diftance. 
 Thefe are undeniable grounds why .many 
 hints for valuable difcoveries have not been 
 brought to perfection and practice. 
 
 Mr. Senger ftates that he became unex- 
 pectedly acquainted with the natural pre* 
 paration and fabrication of Paper. He fays: 
 " In my walks on the borders of a fmall 
 " brook, I found both mores on the fide 
 ** of the hedges covered with a flimy 
 " fubftance, which the not long be* 
 *' fore overflowed brook had depofited. 
 *' The furface of the water was covered 
 *' anew with a yellowifti green vege- 
 *' table, and in, fuch places where the 
 " brook had bendings, lay confiderable 
 u quantities of this fine vegetable produc- 
 " tion piled up in heaps, which gave addi- 
 " tional beauty to the blooming mores of 
 " the flowing brook. This appearance, 
 
 " and 
 
( $42 I 
 « and the thought of an afeful application, 
 «' attracted me into their intereft, and de-> 
 «* termined me to examine, it without de- 
 lay, in order to difcover its value, becaufe 
 " i could not perfuade myfejf that thrifty 
 " Nature could have brought forth fomuch 
 < 4 beauty and fuch an aftoniihing great 
 " quantity of fleecy matter to no ufe or 
 «' purpofe. 
 
 " This vicinity was for many days the 
 iC place of my refort, and the little brool? 
 « appeared to me to be a rich fountain, 
 <c which concealed plenty of matter to in- 
 *? creafe knowledge, which might lead to 
 " fome new difcoveries, and in courfe of 
 56 time recompenfe my endeavours with 
 *' the moil pleafing furprife, 
 
 ** This covering extended on the furface 
 " of the water, was not only a refting- 
 ? place for infects of various forts, and a 
 ..ff well fecured ftore-houfe for their broods* 
 
 but 
 
[ 2** T 
 
 " but as Nature intends every where to 
 ** give multiplicity of advantages, I ex- 
 **■ perienced very foon that it contained a 
 * proper fluff for making Paper, and what 
 ** is more furprifing, a Paper prepared 
 by Nature alone, without the affiftance 
 u of imitating procefles, 
 
 " This peculiar web contains innume* 
 " rable fleecy parts of vegetation, which 
 * e are generated, in the firft part of the 
 
 fpring, on ponds and other ftanding wa* 
 *' ters; they detach themfelves from the 
 * c bottom, and rife on the furface, where 
 *' they appear as a handfome green and 
 *' yellow covering. After thefe fleecy 
 ■"particles have remained for fome 
 ** time on the watery mirror ; by the 
 *' heat of the fun, and by the changing 
 * degrees of cold and warmth of the wa- 
 *' ter, they become more united and felted 
 *< together, bleached, and at laft turned 
 
 into a tough Paper-like covering. Or, 
 . ' if 
 
[ 2M ] 
 
 if this fleecy fubftance is mixed together! 
 " and carried away by fudden inundations, 
 " occafioned by heavy rains, and depofited 
 " on the mores, it appears then like a thin 
 '! jelly or flime, which, after it has under - 
 «« gone feveral changes naturally produced 
 " by the contents of air and water, turns 
 " into a kind of Paper, which refembles 
 " the common Paper ; or, where it has 
 " been produced upon clean water, it is 
 " not unlike a fuperior Paper, of which 
 " fome may be gathered nearly as white 
 " as writing Paper." 
 
 Muft we not, with humble fubmiilion* 
 (till more revere the hand of the all-wife 
 Creator in the works of Nature, when we 
 find that flie proceeds in this operation in 
 the fame manner as the Paper-maker in his 
 mill, when he attempts to prepare Paper 
 out of rags. This fleecy fubftance rifes 
 from the bottom of the water, and feparates 
 from its origin and vegetation, which is the 
 
 m 
 
[ 245 ] 
 
 rlrft procefs ; thefe materials are then pre- 
 pared upon the furface of the water by the 
 apparently invifible contents of all waters, 
 which are in fome more,in others lefs; by the 
 fofteftof all waters, rain; by the refrefhing 
 air of the night ; by the heat of the fun ; 
 and by glutinous and oily fubftances. The 
 waves or motion of the water reduces 
 it into the fmalleft particles, without de* 
 ftroying its texture, like a pulp made of 
 rags when ground-in the Paper-engine. 
 The grafly fhore receives at lafl this Paper- 
 fluff manufactured by Nature alone, like 
 the artift, who fcoops, in the Paper-mill 
 the prepared materials upon frames, out of 
 the vat, and depofits it upon hairy felts, 
 in order to prefs and dry it. Mr. Senger is 
 therefore entitled to the thanks cf men, 
 who too often overlook the moft ingenious 
 works of Nature, by giving them hints to 
 fix their thoughts on this phenomenon, 
 which reprefents to us fo clearly the origin 
 rial fabrication of Paper, and hands down 
 
 to 
 
£ 0*6 ] 
 
 to us the lirft and moft ancient reccsefe 
 thereof ; in the ineffectual purfuit of which 
 our anceftors have fpent many centuries, 
 and could never difcover it to its full extent* 
 It was left to the laft year of the l&th cen- 
 tury, to prove to the world that a firong 
 Paper can be manufactured from all vegeta- 
 ble fubftances, on following thofe rays which 
 Nature has laid open to our eyes. 
 
 It is natural to enquire how this ph<e~ 
 nomenon could remain fo long hidden 
 from the fearehing eye of men ; or, if it 
 was known, why did they not make ufe 
 thereof; and learn from it, the ufeful 
 art of making Paper? The more fo, as this 
 phcenomenon extends itfelf over the whole 
 furface of the globe ; and as a thinking 
 man, who pofleiTes a fpeculating fpirit, with 
 a great mind not to relax his purfuits by 
 difappointment, but to perfevere in his 
 undertakings, may be by it fo eafily led 
 to the difco very of the artificial manufac- 
 ture 
 
t 247 3 
 
 ture of Paper, after fo many hints have been 
 thrown out by the before quoted authors. 
 Have not many years expired fince Dr. 
 Schaffer produced a Paper mixed with rags, 
 made from a kind of vegetable which he 
 calls water-wool, and which was thisConferva > 
 
 This river Paper is completely fabricated 
 by Nature, fo as to be fit for writing or 
 printing, if only taken from the furface of 
 the water when ripe, (which is to be afcer- 
 tained by taking a handful, fqueezing the 
 water out, and finding it fibrous,) hung 
 up and dried, and fmoothed with an iron. 
 
 It remains now to fiate which kind of 
 Conferva is the moft ufeful for making Paper, 
 and may be plentifully obtained. Linnseus 
 fays that there are 21 forts of Conferva, 
 which I mean not to difpute, but to name 
 thofe that are the fitted for the before- 
 mentioned purpofe, which are: Conferva 
 rivularis; Conferva bullofa; Conferva reticu- 
 
 * latis. 
 
[ 248 ] 
 
 latis. Thefe three can be gathered in 
 abundance in dimmer and autumn, the 
 time when ripe, purified, and united by 
 the warmth of the fun, by means of oily 
 fubftances formed likewife in the water by 
 Nature. Mr. Senger fays, that two chil- 
 dren have gathered one thoufand weight 
 in one day. 
 
 I have heretofore ftated the want felt 
 by fociable men in the earlieft ages, to 
 difcover means by which might be -pre- 
 served to pofterity ufeful and notable oc- 
 currences of time, the progrefs of arts and 
 fciences, and in general to facilitate traffic 
 amongft men. Tradition, which for a 
 feries of years was a fubftitute for writing, 
 did but little in comparifon to this art; 
 many things of great importance were for- 
 gotten ; many valuable fciences were loft, 
 mutilated, or but confufedly handed down 
 to pofterity. After letters were invented, 
 a beginning was made to give, as it were, 
 
 fpeech 
 
[ 249 ) 
 
 fpcech to rocks and metals, and to engrave 
 on them memorable events. By degrees, 
 art facilitated this gigantic mode, and taught 
 to exchange this uncommon bulky manner 
 of writing into an eafier method, and to 
 tranferibe it on tables, which were fuper- 
 feded by metals, bones, and wood, until 
 fkins, barks, &c. were made ufe of. Cen- 
 turies elapfed before a more convenient 
 material to write upon was difcovered ; and 
 many unfuccefsful experiments were made, 
 and long years of labour were given up by 
 the greateft men of fcience, before the dif- 
 covery of the Egyptian Papyrus, and the 
 art of making Paper from cotton and linen 
 rags was invented. 
 
 The linen-rag Paper, which has fo much 
 improved and benefited mankind, was by 
 degrees employed to other purpofes than 
 writing, and naturally very much encreafed 
 the price of rags, which makes the Paper 
 fo fcarce, that fufficient quantities cannot be 
 R 2 obtained 
 
[ 2*0 ] 
 
 obtained for the ufe of the numerous print- 
 ing-offices, not only in England, but in all 
 other enlightened countries; and accounts 
 that have been received from various parts 
 of the Continent mew that the price of 
 rags will augment rather than abate. Con- 
 (iderations on thefe circumfbinces induced 
 rne to make further trials, and endeavour 
 to accomplifh that which had been thought 
 impoflible by others, and which had baffled 
 the attempts of many ingenious men, not- 
 withstanding the road had been opened to 
 them by Nature, and the hints of men* 
 My labours and perfeverance have been 
 crowned with fuccefs. 
 
 I have had the fatisfa&ion to witnefs the 
 eftablimment of an extenfive Paper-manu« 
 fa6tory, fince the firft of May 1800, at 
 the Neckinger Mill, Bermondfey, where 
 my invention of re-manufa6turing Paper 
 is carried on with great fuccefs, and 
 where there are already more than 700 
 
 reams 
 
t 251 J 
 
 reams weekly manufactured, of perfectly 
 clean and white Paper, made without any 
 addition of rags, from old wa.de, written and 
 printed Paper; by which the Publick has 
 already been benefited fo far, that the price' 
 of Paper has not rifen otherwife than by 
 the additional duty thereupon, and the en- 
 creafed price of labour. And it will not 
 be many weeks before double that quantity 
 will be manufactured at the faid mill. 
 
 Thus far fucceeding, my other more 
 extended views, in affiduoufly endeavour- 
 ing to manufacture the molt perfect Paper 
 from draw, wood, and other vegetables, have 
 been lilkewife fuccefsful. And I am able 
 to produce to the publick very Itrong and 
 fine Paper, made thereof, without any ad- 
 dition of other known Paper-ftufT, notwith- 
 ltanding I have not yet had the advantage 
 of making it in a mill, , regularly built fof 
 fuch a new undertaking. The Paper where- 
 
 upon 
 
[ 252 ] 
 
 upon this is printed is an undeniable proof* 
 It is however only of an inferior quality* 
 being made from the draw in the ftate it 
 comes from the farm yard, without aborting 
 the weeds, and thofe parts of the ftraw 
 which have been coloured by the weather. 
 I have ufed this kind of Paper on purpofe 
 to demonftrate the progrefs of fo fingular 
 an undertaking, and to prove its poffibility 
 to the world, notwithstanding the opinion 
 of many fcientific men, particularly that of 
 the ingenious Breitkopf at Leipzic, that 
 Paper made from ftraw cannot be ufed for 
 printing. This fpecimen, and others of a 
 much finer quality which have been ma- 
 nufactured, leave no doubt, that, when the 
 manufactory has been regularly eftabliflied 
 with the necelTary implements, I mail make 
 ftraw Paper in as great perfection as any 
 made from rags: and by feveral trials which 
 I have made to change the yellow colour 
 into cream colour, and white, it feems to be 
 
 unquef- 
 
[ 253 ] 
 
 unqueftionably practicable, which will ex- 
 tend its confumption, and remove the 
 prejudices which are generally cheriihed 
 againfr. new difcoveries; notwith (landing 
 its natural colour is not only plealing, but 
 grateful to the eye for writing and printing, 
 principally for mufick-notes by candle-light. 
 Copper-plate printers aflert that it takes 
 the impreffion fuperior to French copper- 
 plate paper, and it has a beautiful effect in 
 landscapes and pictures, for drawing, and 
 paper-hangings. 
 
 In my former edition I faid, (p. 7$) " I 
 flatter myfelf that my exertions will meet 
 with the approbation and fupport of the 
 community at large." Since which my 
 expectations have been gratified, not only 
 by the fanction of the legiflature, who have 
 been pleafed to pafs an act of parliament, 
 by which my undertaking has been greatly 
 facilitated, fo that I am now able to efta- 
 blilh this manufacture to a confiderable 
 
 extent, 
 
[ $5* 1 
 
 extent, but alfo, by the approbation and 
 fupport of perfons of the rirft refpecl:ability$ 
 who have eome forward to patronize it; 
 which is the ftrongeft teft the publick can 
 require of its general utility, and national 
 importance ; the laft of which is certainly of 
 much greater extenfion than by many is 
 conceived ; becaufe, by the eftablilhment 
 of a large manufacture of this kind, nume* 
 rous hands of both fexes, and of all ages, 
 will be employed and gain their livelihood, 
 who now are, or otherwife might become, 
 a burthen to the parifhes in which they re- 
 fide ; it will increafe the revenue ; it will 
 prevent the neceftity of fending large funis 
 of money out of this kingdom, for the pur- 
 chafing of 'rags;* it will render feveral of 
 
 the 
 
 * If from 5000 to 6000 loads of ftraw will be con- 
 verted annually into Paper, ufed for Paper-hangings, it 
 will be equal to the quantity of rags imported from the 
 continent in 1799. A great part of thofe rags are ufed 
 for that kind of Paper (elephant,) that being of a ftronger 
 texture than Englifh rags. And as Paper-hangings made 
 
 from 
 
I 255 ] 
 
 the commodities to be employed in this 
 manufacture more valuable and ufeful than 
 they have hitherto been, (many of which 
 have been thrown away) which of courfe is 
 interefting to the landed property of this 
 country, as the value of land muft naturally 
 encreafe ; and it will ultimately reduce the 
 price of Paper, 
 
 But whether or not this country can avail 
 itfelf of all the advantages that are likely to 
 refult from a difcovery which promifes to 
 become fo generally ufeful, muft, in my 
 humble opinion, intirely depend on thofe 
 meafures, which the legislature of this coun- 
 try /hall in their wifdom think it prudent 
 to adopt, in order to prevent the difcovery 
 
 from 
 
 from ftraw Paper may be manufaftured much cheaper 
 to the tafle of the people abroad, than they can make 
 * from rags, this country will be enabled to pro. 
 vide the whole world with it, at a lower rate than it is 
 poffibleto be manufaSuted. from rags, and foreigners 
 will be neceffitated to fend their money to tbb country 
 for thepurchafeof it. 
 
 S 
 
t I 
 
 from being known to other countries a 
 meafure not undeferving the attention of 
 the Britifh government, at this conjuncture, 
 when the fplendor of its manufaaures and 
 commerce is more envied than at any for- 
 mer period of our hiftory. 
 
 By the fanBion with which the legijlature 
 has favoured my difcovery ; by the fupport of 
 mm of fortune and refpeftability who have 
 come forward to facilitate my endeavours to 
 eftablifh this manufadure on fuch a fcale 
 as to make it of importance to the publick; 
 and by the approbation xvith which it has 
 been honoured by numerous perfons; I flatter 
 tnyfelf to overcome all prejudices agaiml 
 this new invented wood,Jraw, and vegetable 
 Paper, and that I mail, by my unremitting 
 perfeverance, bring the difcovery to the 
 greateft perfeaion, and that my efforts will 
 render it eligible for general ufe : then the 
 opinions and judgments, which are incon- 
 fiderately or envioufly circulated to the 
 
 injury 
 
t 257 ] 
 
 injury of many new inventions and cfta* 
 blishments, will be turned to its advantage, 
 and promote its prosperity, which are the 
 moft effectual means, not only to prevent 
 a further rife of the price of Paper, but con* 
 tribute to its reduction. 
 
 It will be productive of the greateft fa- 
 tisfaction, if, by farther refearches, I can 
 accomplifh the object I have in view, 
 namely, that of manufacturing Paper from 
 vegetables, for the purpofe of making bank* 
 notes, which by the experiments I have 
 made I am convinced I fhall be able to 
 effect, A difcovery of fuch defcription mud 
 be a fource of great and pleafant reflection 
 to every philanthropic mind, fince the op- 
 portunities of forgery on the Bank of Eng- 
 land, which at prefent exift, will be moft 
 effectually done away, and the publick mind 
 relieved from hearing of fuch crimes, and of 
 the executions which enfue from the con- 
 viction of the offenders. That fuch will be 
 
 the 
 
[ 258 } 
 
 the good confequences refulting to the com* 
 munity, from manufacturing Paper of the 
 laid materials for the before-mentioned 
 purpofe, muft be manifeft, becaufe the 
 mixture of vegetables from which the Paper 
 would be made might remain a fecret, if 
 the neceffary meafures for that purpofe are 
 adopted: confequently no forgery could 
 henceforth be committed on the Bank, as 
 long as fuch Paper mould be ufed in making 
 bank-notes, becaufe the counterfeiting of 
 the Paper cannot take place, as long as 
 the materials from which it is made is un- 
 known, and as long as the Patent granted by 
 HisMajefy is in force. 
 
 APPENDIX, 
 
t 2S9 } 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 As an Appendix to this little TracT, 
 I think it proper to fubmit a few 
 more remarks on the National Impor- 
 tance of discovering materials which 
 can be converted into Paper, and grow 
 fuffieiently abundant in Great Britain, 
 without the neceffity of importing them 
 from foreign countries. 
 
 The following lines are printed upon 
 Paper made from Wood alone, the 
 produce of this country, without any 
 intermixture of rags, wafte paper, bark, 
 ftraw, or any other vegetable fubftance, 
 r from 
 
[ 250 ] 
 
 from which Paper might be, or has 
 hitherto been manufactured; and of 
 this the moft ample teftimony can be 
 given, if neceflary. 
 
 Having thus far fucceeded in my re- 
 searches, to make an ufeful Paper 
 from one kind of Wood, I doubt not, 
 but, that I mall find many others equally 
 eligible for the fame purpofe, of which 
 I truft it will be in my power, within 
 a few weeks, to give indifputable 
 proof that my expectations have been 
 well founded, and that I have not 
 cherifhed a vifionary opinion. 
 
 r , Hiftory furnifhes us with numerous 
 examples of one difcovery giving birth 
 to others, and, if my fuccefs of hav- 
 ing encreafed the quantity of Paper 
 materials, by rendering thefe applica- 
 ble to that which have never been 
 before applied to fuch a purpofe, 
 
 mould 
 
[ 261 ] 
 
 mould incite active and induftrious 
 artifts, to make farther improvements in 
 their various manufactures, my feelings 
 will be amply gratified. Various hints 
 may be fuggefted to thofe who are 
 already acquainted with the properties 
 of Paper, when patted in lamina on 
 each other; it may, by this means, 
 be made to form a fubftance, as dura- 
 ble and more impenetrable than oak. 
 
 Having long admired the celebrated 
 manufacture of Mr. Clay, at Birming- 
 ham, who has demon ftrated to what per- 
 fection and beauty it has been brought, 
 it will, in the courfe of time, perhaps 
 not be furprifing to find, that objects 
 of greater confequence will engage 
 their attention in the fame purfuit, 
 and prove, that the properties from 
 fucceffive layers of Paper, may be 
 found a fubftitute for many purpofes, 
 >,■.,. r 2 - : for 
 
[ 2<?2 ] 
 
 for which at prefent foreign Wood is 
 required. 
 
 One of the great ell obftacles to the 
 improvement and extenfion of this 
 art has been probably the fcarcity of 
 the raw materials. Now that thefe are 
 found at home in fufficient abundance, 
 means may be found to fupply manu- 
 factures with any quantity required, at 
 reduced prices. 
 
 It may probably be ultimately proved, 
 that Paper thus prepared, will be a 
 lighter, neater, and more durable co- 
 vering for buildings of all kinds, and 
 it is equally true, that the ingredients., 
 with which the cement can be com- 
 pofed, will render this fubftance not 
 only incombuftible, bnt more durable 
 than Hates, tiles, (which in the courfc 
 of time become i brittle) and wood in 
 
 it 
 
[ «** ] 
 
 its natural ftate, and incorruptible by 
 infects. Who can fay that coach- 
 makers, chair-makers, and cabinet- 
 makers, will not make ufe of it for 
 carriages, chairs, and elegant houfehold 
 furniture, and reflect that a fubftance 
 pofTeffing fuch fuperior properties ought 
 to be preferred; having flexibility, 
 hardnefs, and capability of being worked 
 with infinite greater neatnefs and luftre 
 than wood, which is fo much affected 
 by the air and weather. Converting 
 wood, ftraw, and other vegetable 
 fubftances into Paper, may there- 
 fore be rendered ufeful for a vari- 
 ety of purpofes; and the fubftance 
 of the Wood Paper on which thefe 
 lines are printed, (which is the firft 
 attempt to make it in a quantity) 
 exhibits an indifputable proof, that 
 ufeful Paper may be manufactured 
 from the hardeft part of wood alone, 
 deftitute of its pith or bark; and, if 
 
 any 
 
[ 3** ] 
 
 any of the fuggeftions here ftated, as 
 to the application of the manufactured 
 material mould be thought reasonable, 
 experiments of fome able manufacturers 
 will prove, that this Paper can be 
 again converted into a fubftance, more 
 hard and durable than any wood of 
 natural growth. 
 
 Confidering, in its full extent, the 
 numerous ufes to which the difcovery 
 of making Paper from wood, ftraw and 
 other vegetables, which always can be^ 
 obtained in this country at moderate 
 prices, can he applied, it is certainly 
 an invention that merits attention 
 and fupport. If only fit for the ma- 
 nufacture of inferior forts of Paper, 
 and Paper-hangings, this country will 
 be enabled to cope with the whole 
 world in this fpecies of commerce, on 
 the moft advantageous terms, and to 
 
 enrich. 
 
[ 255 ] 
 
 enrich herfelf, by opening this new 
 fource of trade, very lucrative to the 
 revenue, and allowing the manufactured 
 commodity to be fold for lefs than the 
 prefent price of Paper; whilft, at the 
 fame time, it will make feveral ma- 
 terials * more valuable, and, by giv- 
 ing employment to thoufands of wo- 
 men and children, thereby eftabliih an 
 influx of real wealth into this country. 
 
 The wifdom of the legiflature has 
 rendered it neceflary that the fpeci- 
 fication of every patent mould be made 
 public within the fpace of twenty- 
 eight days, which has been fometimes 
 extended to fix months. The patentee's 
 benefit exifts for fourteen years, and 
 is extremely well protected by the law 
 againft the infringement of itstprivi leges, 
 by the inhabitants of Great Britain ; but 
 it appears very extraordinary, that 
 
 every 
 
 * Saw-duft, wood-fliavings, old mattings, &c. 
 
[ 2«G ] 
 every patent is open for the infpectiort 
 of foreigners, and that the patentee 
 remains unprotected with refpect to 
 them. A pamphlet has been fuffered 
 to be publiihed monthly, rlnce the 
 year 1794, which defcribes not only 
 the exifting patents of the country, 
 but contains complete drawings and 
 defcriptions of new-invented ma- 
 chines. This pamphlet has been, and 
 will be, immediately tranilated into 
 the continental languages ; a practice 
 which has, no doubt, proved highly 
 detrimental to the revenue and com* 
 mercial intereft of this country. 
 
 If a patent is obtained for an inge- 
 nious invention, which may have coft 
 the author many years intenfe labour 
 and ftudy, and the refult produces 
 great national wealth by the' manu- 
 facture and exportation of the commo- 
 dity, the profpects may be clouded in 
 
 an 
 
[ 267 ] 
 
 an hour, and all expectation baffled 
 by foreigners reading the fpecification, 
 who, by erecting fimilar manufactures 
 abroad, under greater advantages,* 
 deprive the country of the revenue 
 and commerce. If this fubject was 
 duly weighed, it furely might be 
 remedied. It may be alked, why a 
 •patent is to be openly exemplified be- 
 fore its term is expired? for, as it can 
 be of no ufe to the inhabitants of 
 this country, during the fpace of four- 
 teen years, for what purpofe is it ex- 
 pofed? and why are foreigners per- 
 mitted to reap the benefits to which 
 this country is only entitled? It is 
 undeniable, that it operates as a per- 
 petual difcouragement to the future 
 efforts of genius, preventing monied 
 men from carrying themoft valuable dif- 
 u coveries 
 
 * They do not want to fpend money to bring the inven- 
 tion to perfe&ion; and manual labour, building, and rent is 
 cheaper on the Continent, 
 
t 2*8 3 
 
 reveries into effect. The doubtfulnefs 
 of fuccefs alone fufnciently damps the 
 ardour,, perfeverance, and exertions 
 neceflarily required in the purfuit of 
 Ikilful and laborious inquiries; but, 
 having fucceeded to his utmoft wiihet 
 and after having incurred very injuri- 
 ous expenfes in the profecution of 
 his defign, he is foiled in all his hopes 
 of compenfation, by the expofure of 
 the means through which the difco- 
 very has been effected. This consi- 
 deration alone ought to weigh with 
 thofe by whom this evil can be -reme- 
 died to the individual. But, much 
 as it may be lamented, this injury 
 bears no proportion to the loifes which 
 the revenue and commerce fuffer. 
 
 It therefore appears impolitic in the 
 laft degree to expofe the exemplifica- 
 tion of a patent to public difclofure, 
 and to be a defideratum of fuch in* 
 
 finite 
 
{ 26*9 ] 
 
 finite importance, that the Legiflature 
 may think of fome method to prevent 
 the art from being divulged in a patent, 
 arid being purloined by foreigners, who 
 are jealous of the greatnefs of the 
 tnanufa&ures, commerce, and naviga- 
 tion, of Great Britain. 
 
 The importance of this is fufnciently 
 obvious by daily experience ; and it feem* 
 very aftonifhing that the Legiflature 
 has not before taken it up as a general 
 meafure ; as it is not only a great "hard- 
 Mp, but an a& of injuftice, that the 
 people of this country mould bereftrained 
 from the ufe of inventions, for which 
 patents have been granted, for a term 
 of fourteen years, which foreigners can 
 immediately avail themfelves of abroad, 
 by procuring copies of the fpecificationa 
 inrolled here, which it is notorious they 
 are in the daily habit of doing, and 
 which Hands proved in the Report of 
 v 2 laft 
 
[ 270 ] 
 laft Seflions of Parliament by the Com- 
 mittee, to be confidered by them as a 
 matter of great importance, from their 
 remitting money to Bankers in this king- 
 dom to pay perfons for collecting and 
 fending over particulars of our Difcoveries 
 and Manufactures. One cannot help ob- 
 ferving the impolicy of that legiflative 
 act, which declares it a crime for any fub- 
 ject or other perfon in this realm to fend 
 abroad any machine or other apparatus 
 ufed in our manufactures: yet permits 
 written and printed copies of the parti- 
 culars of inventions, and prints of machi- 
 nery, to be daily tranfmitted abroad : nay, 
 fufFers a work monthly to be publifhed 
 in this metropolis, avowing itfelf to be 
 a defcription of inventions and difco- 
 veries, and the mode in which they 
 are effected, together with the plates 
 of all the machinery, which publication 
 is tranflated abroad in different lan- 
 guages. Is it to be contended that a 
 
 fkflful 
 
[ 871 ] 
 fkilful mechanic cannot make a machine 
 from a drawing and complete defcrip- 
 tion of machinery, but only from the ac- 
 tual machine itfelf? The only objection 
 that feems to oppofe itfelf to this mea- 
 fure is, that it would be a hardmip 
 to punifti a man for an infringement 
 of an invention, the mode of carrying 
 on which, he has not an opportunity 
 of infpecting before committing the act, 
 and therefore could not intentionally have 
 infringed, but of which he would have 
 had the previous infpection, if the fpe- 
 cification was inrolled as directed. The 
 anfwer to which is, that particular and 
 private inconvenience ought to give way 
 to general good; but here, (by my 
 patent) that facrifice is not required to 
 be made, and I think there will not any 
 real inconvenience be fuftained by this 
 meafure being generally adopted for all 
 patents which may be granted. 
 
 My 
 
£ % J 
 
 My patent being for making Paper 
 from Straw, &c. during the term of 
 fourteen years; no perfon has any right 
 during that period to make it from 
 fuch raw materials as are defcribed in 
 my patent; and I have proved to the 
 Committee of both Houfes of Parliament 
 by fatisfaclory evidence, that the per* 
 feci; Paper exhibited there was made 
 folely from the fubftances mentioned in 
 the patent: but,.fuppofing a perfon to 
 have difcovered a new mode of making 
 Paper from Straw, much more ufeful 
 and beneficial than the prefent, and that 
 it was necelfary he mould fee the exem- 
 plification of mine, to fhew that his U 
 original, and not an infringement on my 
 invention, he has only to apply to thg 
 Lord High-Chancellor, whom 1 hum- 
 bly fubmit mould have the control over 
 the keepers of my exemplification, and 
 pn verifying the facts,, he would imme- 
 diately direct an infpection. I trult the 
 
 Legiflature 
 
[ 2W ] 
 Legiflature will not efteem unworthy 
 of their notice my obfervation for the 
 benefit of the country, revenue and 
 CQmmerce* 
 
 FINIS. 
 
r 
 
1% 
 
 ?55o 
 
 (?FTTV rv