LAWNS, CAMBRICS, AND STARCHING. Shortly after the introduction of coaches, the knowledge and wear of lawns and cambrics were introduced by the Dutch merchants, who retailed those articles in ells, yards, &c., for there was not one housekeeper among forty durst buy a whole piece; and when the queen (Elizabeth) had ruffs made thereof, for her own princely wearing (for until then the kings and queens of England wore fine Holland in ruffs), there was none in England could tell how to starch them; but the queen made special means for some women that could starch, and Guilham's wife was the first starcher the queen had, and himself was the first coachman. Soon after this, the art of starching was first publicly taught in London by a Flemish woman, called Mistress Dinghen Vander Place; her usual price for teaching the art itself being four or five pounds, and twenty shillings additional for showing how to seethe the starch. At this period, the making of lawn ruffs was regarded by the populace as so strange and finical, that thereupon rose a general scoff and bywords, "that shortly they would make ruffs of spider's web." THE SILK TRADE. The ancients were but little acquainted with the use and manufacture of silk; they took it for the work of a sort of spider or beetle, who spun it out of its entrails, and wound it with its feet about the little branches of trees. It was in the Isle of Cos that the art of manufacturing it was first invented; and Pamphila, daughter of Platis, is honoured as the inventress. The discovery was not long unknown to the Romans. Silk was brought from Serica, where the worm was a native. They could not believe so fine a thread was the production of a worm-it was a scarce commodity among them for many ages; it was even sold weight for weight with gold, insomuch that Vopiscus tells us, the Emperor Aurelian, who died A.D. 275, refused the Empress, his wife, a suit of silk, which she solicited of him with much earnestness, merely on account of its dearness; but at the present period, through the industry and enterprise of man, the produce of this tender worm (which a thoughtless individual would crush beneath his feet), serves to decorate the humble individual as well as the mighty monarch. Heliogabulus is said to be the first person who wore holosericum, i.e., a garment made all of silk. The Greeks of Alexander's army are said to have been the first who brought wrought silk from Persia into Greece, about 323 years before Christ: but its manufacture was confined to Berytus and Tyre, and from thence it was dispersed over the west. At length two monks, coming from the Indies to Constantinople in 555, brought with them great quantities of silkworms, with instructions for the hatching of their eggs, rearing, and feeding the worms, &c. Upon this, manufactures were set up at Athens, Thebes, and Corinth. It was brought to France a little before the time of Francis I., who brought it to Touraine. It appears there was a company of silk women in England so early as the year 1455; but these were probably employed in needle works of silk and thread. Italy supplied England and all other parts with the broad manufacture till 1489. In 1620, the broad silk manufacture was introduced into this country; and in 1661, the company of silk-throwsters employed above 40,000 persons. The revocation of the edict of Nantes, in 1685, contributed in a great degree to promote the silk manufacture in this country, as did also the silk throwing machine, erected at Derby in 1719, which contained 26,586 wheels; one water-wheel moved the whole, and in a day and night it worked 318,504,960 yards of organized silk. Within about a century the secret has been found in France of procuring and preparing silk from the webs of spiders. The silk, however, from the spider is both inferior in strength and lustre. WEAVING. The vestments of the early inhabitants of the world discovered neither art nor industry. They made use of such as nature presented, and needed the least preparation. Some nations covered themselves with the bark of trees, others with leaves or bulrushes, rudely interwoven. The skins of animals were also universally used as garments, worn without preparation, and in the same state as they came from the bodies of the animals.* In process of time recourse was had to the wool of animals,† and this led to the further discovery of the art of uniting the separate parts into one continued thread, by means of the spindle; and this would consequently lead to the next step, the invention of weaving, which, according to Democritus, who flourished 400 years before Christ, arose from the art of the spider, who guides and manages the threads by the weight of her own body. That the invention of weaving was long prior to the time of Democritus, appears from the sacred writings. This is evident also from the answer which Abraham gave to the king of Sodom: "I will not," said he, " take from a thread of the woof, even to a shoe latchet, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abraham rich." "Inventress of the woof, fair Lina flings The flying shuttle through the dancing strings, * Lucretius, lib. vi. verse 1011. + Genesis xxxi. 19, and xxxviii. 12, 14. Ibid xiv. 23. Chronology informs us, linen was first made in England 1253. "Now began the luxurious to wear linen, but the generality woollen shirts." Table linen very scarce in England, in 1386. A company of linen weavers, however, came over from the Netherlands in that year, after which it became more abundant. WOOLLEN MANUFACTURE. To the bigotry of Spain, may be attributed the chief cause of our manufacturing greatness. The persecuted artisans came hither in flocks, and set up their looms under Edward VI. The reign of Mary impeded their settlement, her government acting under the influence of Philip II. of Spain, her husband, and the oppressor of the artisans. Elizabeth encouraged their return. But it was to the gibbets and wheels of the duke of Alva, that England is the most indebted. Scared by his inhumanity (his object being to make the authority of Philip as absolute in Flanders as in Spain, and to introduce the Inquisition), the Flemish manufacturers fled hither in shoals, and were received with hospitality. They repaid this polite kindness, by peopling the decayed streets of Canterbury, Norwich, Sandwich, Colchester, Maidstone, Spitalfields, and many other towns, with many active and industrious weavers, dyers, cloth-workers, linen-makers, silkthrowers, &c. They also taught the making of bays (baize), and other stuffs. It is worthy of remark, also, that from a herd of sheep, transported from the Cotswold Hills in Gloucestershire, to Castile, in 1464, descended the sheep which produces the fine wool of Spain, so much in repute. The celebrated bishop Blaise invented the art of wool-combing, and thereby greatly improved the cloth manufacture. At Bradford, in Yorkshire, the wool-combers, &c., celebrate his nativity by processions with music, dancing, and festivity. WEAVING STOCKINGS. The stocking loom was first invented, about the year 1590, by the Rev. William Lee, of St. John's College, Cambridge. This gentleman being desirous of bringing the machine into general use, and unable to procure any remuneration from the government of his own country, he went over to Rouen, in Normandy, where some spirited individuals undertook to introduce him to the French minister, who gladly afforded him protection and patronage. He had previously applied to queen Elizabeth; and it must appear not a little extraordinary, that this monarch should have refused him her support, when it is recollected what patronage she afforded to Daniel Houghsetter, and to many other foreigners, whom she had invited from different places on the continent of Europe, to instruct her subjects in useful arts, and in the establishment of new manufactures. He died, however, in France, before his loom was made there; and the art was not long since in no part of the world but England. Oliver the Protector made an act, that it should be felony to transport the engine. This information I took, says Aubrey, from a weaver in Pearpool Lane, in 1656. Elizabeth, in the third year of her reign, received a present of a pair of black silk knit stockings, and from that time never wore cloth hose. DAMASK WEAVING. The name which this art bears shows the place of its origin, or at least the place where it has been practised in the greatest perfection, viz. the city of Damascus, in Syria; though M. Felibien attributes the perfection of the art to his countryman, Cursinet, who wrought under the reign of king Henry IV. Damaskeening is partly Mosaic work, partly engraving, and partly carving: as Mosaic work, it consists of pieces inlaid; as engraving, the metal is indented or cut in creux; and as carving, gold and silver are wrought therein in relievo. PARCHMENT. This article, of so much utility, was invented by Eumenes II. king of Pergamus, B.C. 198, in consequence of the prohibition of the export of papyrus from Egypt, by Ptolemy Epiphanes. The name Pergamena has been thought to prove its invention at that place. It was anciently called membrana, which is the word used in the Greek Testament, 2 Tim. iv. 13. MAPS AND SEA CHARTS Were first brought into England by Bartholomew Columbus, to illustrate his brother's theory respecting a western continent, in 1489. GUTTA PERCHA. It Gutta Percha (pronounced pertsha) possesses as great an indestructibility by means of chemical agents as caoutchouc. has an intermediate consistence between that of leather and wood; it is capable of being softened by heat, and of regaining its primitive consistence on cooling. The Isonandra gutta, belonging to the natural order Sapotacea, is the only tree which yields gutta percha. It grows scarcely any where except in certain parts of the Malayan Archipelago, and up to the present time has been almost exclusively obtained from Singapore. It was first brought into England in the days of Tradescant, and was then call Mazer wood, and subsequently it was brought from China under the name of India rubber. In 1843, Doctors D'Almeida and W. Montgomery drew particular attention to it, together with its singular properties, its easy manipulations, and the uses for which the Malays employed it. In 1845 the importation was only 20,600 lbs; but in 1848 it had increased to above 3,000,000 lbs. CHIMNEYS AND CHIMNEY-SWEEPERS. The oldest certain account of chimneys occurs in the year 1347; when at Venice a great number were thrown down by an earthquake. De Gataris says, in his History of Padua, that Francesco de Carraro, Lord of Padua, came to Rome in 1368, and finding no chimneys in the inn where he lodged, because at that time fire used to be kindled in a hole in the middle of the floor, with an aperture in the roof for the escape of the smoke), he caused two chimneys, like those which had been long used at Padua, to be constructed and arched by masons and carpenters, whom he had brought with him. Over these chimneys, the first ever seen in Rome, he affixed his arms to record the event. It is uncertain at what period chimneys were first introduced into England, some have gone so far as to say, that they were known and used here as far back as 1300, but they do not substantiate what they write. Holinshed, who wrote in the reign of queen Elizabeth, informs us there were few chimneys, even in capital towns: the fire was laid to the wall, and the smoke issued at the roof, or door, or window. As the general class of houses at that period did not exceed one story high, where the chimney did tower above the house, it was not a very difficult matter to cleanse it: very few chimneys however did, as they terminated with the roof or gable, consequently they were easily kept clean. A long broom, or brush, was first used for the purpose, such as we see in churches and other public buildings, and as the chimneys were built quite straight, it answered the purpose exceedingly well. Of course the party mounted the roof and swept downwards. On the accession of James I. to the English crown, the Scotch fashion of building houses, three and four stories high, was first introduced; and it was about this period that climbing boys were first employed for the cleansing of chimneys. The little sweepers, however, for the last half century have become objects of particular care with the legislature. Since the Act 4 and 5 Will. IV., no child who is under ten years of age can be apprenticed to a chimney-sweeper. Various methods, too, have recently been projected for cleansing chimneys by mechanical means, of which the most successful was that by Mr. George Smart. The principal parts of the machine are a brush, some hollow tubes which fasten into each other by means of brass sockets, and a cord for connecting the whole together. May Day, is commonly called Chimney-Sweepers' Day. It was |