Hiflory of the Art of Dyeing, 2 1 5 



the various companies eftabliflied by Numa at Rome, a dyers' 

 company, 'colhgium tinttoru7n ; but tlicfe I con fid cr to have 

 been at Ml purple dycrs^. Afterwards the art of dyeing con-^ 

 tinued 10 incrcafe among the Romans, and they began to di- 

 vide colours into general [prmcipales) and particular {minus 

 fnncipaUs)., according as they were ufual among both fexes, 

 or were cxclufively worn by either f. Thus the antient au- 

 thors frequently fpcak of the colours by which the four dif- 

 ferent parties {fa^iones) at the Circenfian ganies were diilin- 

 euiilicd from each other, and which, on that account, w^e 

 ailed the colores circcnfis. Thefe were green {color' prajinus)^ 

 aurora colour {ruffafus), afti colour {veTietusX), and white §. 

 But the art of dyeing was not confined merely to the Phce- 

 nieians, Hebrews, Greeks, ^nd Romans ; it was foon com- 

 municated to other nations, each of which employed tor this 

 purpofc fuch minerals and plants as their different countries 

 produced. According to the account of Pliny || and other 

 authors, the Gauls who inhabited beyond the Alps dyed the 

 molt: beautiful purple and other colours with herbs ; but they 

 were not acquainted with a meihod of fixing them. We are 



■'• Plutarch in the Life of Nuina. 



t Thus, for example, yellow was commonly ufed as the colour of the 

 veils (^flammca') worn by brides on the day of their nuptials, and peculiar 

 o the female fex alone. — ?ltnyy lib. xxi. c. 8. 



\ This, in particular, was the colour of the clothing of mariners and 

 uf the fails of fhips. 



§ This colour afforded employment in particular to the ftiUoncs^ who 

 walhed and fcoured white as well as coloured clothing. For this purpofe 

 they employed urine, chalk, faltpetre, and fumigation with fulphur. The 

 procefles to be ufed were prefciibed by a peculiar law (^Lex Metellana) iflued 

 by the tribune Metellus in the year 354 after the building of the city. 

 They were required, in the tirft place, ta walh the clothes with Sardiniia 

 e:irth, then to expol'e them to the vapour of fulphur, and to fcour therti 

 with? unadulterated Cimolian earth, (from Cimolus, one of the iflands called 

 th.e ^/wWifj,) which rertored the rpleiidour of the colour that had boen 

 deftroycd by the fulphur. In the laft place, they frtiooth^d the pile of the 

 cloth with the ikin of*fe hedge-hog or the fuller's thiftle {carduus fuUonius), 

 and then prtlTed it. A pydyge in the gofpel according to St. Mark, c. ix. 

 vcr. 3, alludes t^ this prorefs. Luther t'-arfbrcs the \\ox<\y,a.'^ivi (frdlo) 

 improperly by making it fi^nify i'Jjer. — See Pliny, xxxv. 17, and SibaU- 

 genii AHtiq:'i!at. Fullcviie. 



ji Lib. xjfrii. cap. 2. 



told 



