provement in their art since the legalized importation of foreign manufactured silks, that one of the most eminent manufacturers of that city has declared, that he should, at this day, blush for the work which even his best hands used formerly to furnish; that now their patterns and productions are fully equal to those of their foreign rivals, and qualified to come in successful competition with the most beautiful ribands wrought by the Lyonnese weavers.

Ribands are frequently ornamented by having what is called a pearl-edge given to them. This is formed by causing portions of the shoot to project beyond the edges of the riband, and the extent of these projections is so governed as that they shall assume a symmetrical appearance, according to the particular form required, whether as vandykes, or scallops, or any other figures. This pleasing effect is produced by employing supplementally to the warp-threads, and outside each edge, a certain number of horse-hairs, which pass through mails in the harness in the same manner as the warp-threads, but which hairs will be drawn out of the riband by the act of its being wound on the roller. The horsehairs are so connected with the machinery of the loom as to be raised in the succession proper for forming the pattern required.

The following diagram exhibits the mode of forming the simplest sort of pearl-edge.

The lines a a represent the edges of the riband; bb the shoot, and the figures 2, 4, 6, 8, signify the number of hairs

Fig. 14.

a

ъ

8

which have been included in the several threads of the shoot to which the numbers are attached, in order to form the pearl-edge. It will be seen that, by varying the order of succession used for raising the horse-hairs, the form of the edge will be determined in the particular manner that is desired.

The commoner sorts of ribands are composed altogether,

both warp and shoot, of Bengal silk. Those of better quality are manufactured with a mixture of Italian and Bengal silk; and the finest descriptions are made of Italian silk without any mixture. Riband is woven in pieces, each of which measures thirty-six yards.

CHAP. IV.

FIGURE WEAVING.

Sumptuary Laws.-Antiquity of ornamental Weaving.-Stripes.-Checks. -Changes of Colors.-Twills.-Draw-loom.-Draw-boy.-Jacquard Ma chine.-Principle and Mode of its Action.-Card-slips.-Advantages of the Machine.-Jennings's Improvement.-Obstacles to its original Introduction in Lyons.-Superiority of French Patterns.

THE processes hitherto described are competent only to the manufacture of plain goods; and although, speaking strictly, all that is absolutely necessary to the wants of civilized man, in respect of the art of weaving, is accomplished when fabrics of this description are produced, yet fashion and the love of variety have always, except in the very rudest conditions of society, occasioned the more ornamental and fanciful productions to be viewed with admiration and adopted with eagerness.

The cynic may sneer at the vanity which seeks to adorn the human frame in varieties of colors, combined into forms and patterns of still greater variety. But it would be difficult to show that the powers of invention, and the ingenuity which this vanity has called into existence, have not been beneficially exerted in providing employment for thousands of industrious artisans, in rescuing tens of thousands from the miseries of hopeless indigence, and by exercising, in various ways, the mental faculties of our species.

The growing intelligence of mankind has long since led them to discard all sumptuary laws, as useless, if not hurtful, to communities, whether they are considered morally or politically. The desire of obtaining that which may entitle us, in the opinion of our associates, to an increased degree of worldly consideration, is a most powerful incentive to the vir tues of industry and frugality; qualities which tend most importantly to the general advancement of society, but which are altogether wanting during its ruder stages.

It has been well said by a celebrated philosopher, whose profound investigations have been greatly instrumental in correcting many mistaken notions upon the science of gov

ernment, which had long been established and held as incontrovertible axioms, that "the natural effort of every individual to better his own condition, when suffered to exert itself with freedom and sincerity, is so powerful a principle, that it is alone, and without any assistance, not only capable of carrying on the society to wealth and prosperity, but of surmounting a hundred impertinent obstructions with which the folly of human laws too often encumbers its operations; though the effect of these obstructions is always, more or less, either to encroach upon its freedom, or to diminish its security."*

It would prove a curious subject of inquiry, to follow out, to their ultimate consequences, and through all their ramifications, the effects resulting to society from the introduction of new luxuries. To ascertain the degree wherein the indulgence, by the wealthy, of wants called into existence by the very means afforded for their gratification, brings other enjoyments within the reach of a larger number, by reason of the new demand for industrious labor thus created; and to learn how a still larger class are, through the spirit of emulation, rendered so desirous of acquiring an equal participation in comforts enjoyed by their former equals, as to give an effectual spur to their industry and ingenuity. Luxuries, when they have been long enjoyed, become, in a manner, necessary to our happiness; to be without them, while others are not so deprived, is to feel ourselves lowered in the scale of society, a degradation to which but few individuals would willingly submit, while the means of avoiding it continue within their reach.

To imagine that communities, after once acquiring a relish for luxuries, can ever fall back to the primitive usages of society, is to conceive what never has occurred, and that, while the human mind remains constituted as it ever has been, never will be experienced. The natural wishes of every man are placed upon the acquirement of something more and better than that which he at present enjoys; and society is thus led, by the concurring efforts of each of its individual members, progressively and steadily onward. Legislative or governmental interference may, indeed, retard the march of improvement, but can no more stop its course when it is once in action than it can stay the motion of the planets.

Figure-weaving is the art of producing various patterns in

*Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, by Adam Smith, vol. ii. p. 365.

R

the cloth, either by the introduction of threads of various colors, or by a different arrangement of the threads, or by using, in the same fabric, threads of different substances.

This interesting art is of very ancient invention, and appears to have been practised by the Egyptians at a very early period. Herodotus* speaks of a curious breast-plate or cuirass, covered with linen, which was sent by king Amasis to the Lacedemonians, and which was highly ornamented with numerous figures of animals woven into its texture. The historian adds, that each of its apparently slender threads was actually composed of three hundred filaments, which, under a careful examination, were all distinctly visible.

The improvements recently introduced into this ornamental branch of the art have been many and important; but previous to giving any description of these improvements, it may be as well to explain, generally, the more simple, although more laborious and less perfect, means, whereby the weaver was formerly enabled to produce the requisite varieties of form and color from his loom.

Stripes which occur throughout the length of the piece are the effect of using threads of different colors or substances in the warp alone, and do not entail any additional labor upon the weaver. Stripes which run across the piece, or in the direction of the shoot, are caused by using different shuttles, furnished with threads of the requisite colors and substances for the formation of the shoot. The only additional labor thus occasioned to the weaver is that of changing his shuttle at certain intervals. A combination of these two methods will, it must be evident, produce a checkered pattern, and thus a very great variety of rectilinear patterns may be obtained.

To call forth figures, flowers, or patterns of any other kind, different means are necessary. By dividing the warp between several leaves of heddles, which can be depressed at pleasure by separate treadles, threads of different colors may be either concealed or brought forward upon the face of the goods, at the pleasure of the weaver. These threads may be made to change places one with the other, so as to reveal or conceal each in such a way as to make out the particular pattern intended.

Where threads of different colors or substances are employed in forming the shoot, the shuttles containing such different threads must be substituted as often as is required by

* Lib. iii. c. 47.

the contemplated change of pattern. To effect this substitution with but little trouble or loss of time to the weaver, a very simple but effectual contrivance is used.

One of the troughs connected with the shuttle-race must be made in two parts, thus:

The box, here shown, forming part of the trough in which the shuttle is placed between the warp and the pecker or driver, can be easily exchanged for another box, furnished with a different shuttle, having wound in it a thread of the kind wanted. In order to facilitate this exchange of the shuttles, the movable part of the trough is suspended from a centre of motion, as at b; by swinging, therefore, the box a on its centre, any one of its divisions may be brought opposite to the driver, so as exactly to coincide with it, and to form part of the same trough in continuation of the shuttlerace. The upright bar of the shuttle-box a works, as is seen, upon a curved arm c, which is furnished with pegs or catches to confine the bar in the precise position which it should occupy. If more than three different colored threads are wanted to form the shoot, there may then be two movable boxes for the shuttles; one being placed at each end of the shuttle-race.

Tweeled or twilled cloth is a description of figure weaving depending upon peculiar arrangements of the threads that compose the warp and shoot. These arrangements may be almost infinitely varied and complicated, so that it would be difficult to convey a clear or adequate description of every variety; nor, indeed, would it be useful in a work like this to do so. It is, however, easy to communicate an idea of the principle that enters into and governs this method of weay