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ther, beiog obliged to catch hold of it every time it went throughthe web. This was both tedious and laborious, especially inbroad work. Now, however, he seldom has occasion to toucii,except in filling it, as the boxes fixed at the end of his lay al-ternately receive it every' shot; and it is discharged therefromto the box opposite by a driver , to which motion is communicat-ed from the weaver’s hand, by means of a string. In weavingchequered goods, there is one or more extra boxes, which, bysimple mechanical contrivances, shift and shoot different shuttles,containing, respectively, such kinds of Weft as the pattern mayhappen to require.
Another source of employment arose, here, from a successfulimitation of the Needle-work of the Continent, in the introduc-tion and most rapid extension of the Flowering and Tambourwork of Flanders. The art was originally acquired by females ofsuperior rank, as a polite and elegant branch of domestic indus-try, and many years practised as an amusement. This circum-stance afforded much facility of instruction ; and the low price effemale labour did still more. In this way a very great manufac-ture was quickly established, and flourished beyond every possi-ble expectation which the most sanguine mind could have indulg-ed, until checked by causes, partly common to the general ma-nufactures of the country, and partly peculiar to itself.
The Tambouring, although still carried on to considerable ex-tent, has a good deal given place to Hand-sewing, of almost everydescription that fanciful ingenuity can devise, of female fingersexecute: as satin, chain, rope, seed, bead, button, open, 4nd aVariety of othef stitches, performed with coloured and white cot-ton, linen and silk ; also with coloured worsteds, gold and silverthread, spangles, &c. About twelve years ago, a successful at-tempt was made in Glasgow to tambour muslin by machinery,for which the inventor obtained a patent. A work was thenestablished, and has continued ever since. Thefe are at presentin it sixteen frames, all going. Twelve of them, having eachfifty-four needles, one inch asunder, are for 6-4ths muslin; theother four, having each one hundred needles, three-fourths of aninch asunder, are for 8-4-ths muslin, or two webs of 4-4ths.
The whole are wrought by power from a steam-engine, anilattended by sixteen females, one to every frame. One framedoes as much work in a given time, as from fourteen to eighteengirls can accomplish by band.
The machinery, as may well be conceived, is very complex,although not more so than a stocking-frame, to which it bears aconsiderable resemblance.
The muslin does not require to be printed before it is tambour-ed, as the form of the flower or ornament depends on the inden-tations of two eccentric wheels, that guide the progress of theframe in which the cloth is vertically stretched, the needles re-maining relatively stationary, but moving on their own axis, a®