•j6 On the diJhoNt/I Pra^licis in IIat-mal!ng, i:fc, 



come to be ftifFened, the dregs form a body within the hat, fufficiently ftrong or retentive to 

 keep the glue from coming through amongft the nap : vitriol alone purges or weakens the 

 goods too much, confequently half of the quantity does better with the addition of dregs, 

 and they alfo allow the body to be clofer from its getting mere work. 



Let us now examine the opportunities that journeymen have to fteal from their mafters ; 

 and probably this review will fuggeft ftiil ftronger arguments, for the more general introduc- 

 tion of machines, than has been advanced in a former number. For we fliall find that the 

 goodnefs of the bodies, as well as the quantity of beaver weighed out for the napping or 

 covering, which you call the facing, may both be greatly impoveriflied, and the mafler, from 

 the diflionefty of the men, nearly ruined before he is aware : from the mafter who weighs to 

 the maker, and from him after he has got his hat ready for the dreiling, or raifmg the nap, 

 the beaver may be eafily ftolen, and yet remain unknown to the mafler, by the hats coming 

 in damped, though imperceptible to the hand, and of courfe weighing heavier. Or it may be 

 faid, by the journeymen, that the hats were wider laid in the bafoning, and had purged more 

 at plank, and of courfe loft weight. Nay, the very dregs in which it is fecn the hats are 

 worked, may increafe the weight, and even beating them when dry, does not free them entirely 

 from the dried mucilage. The colour of the covering, or beaver, is no infallible guide, as 

 the journeyman who cuts it, often puts inferior beaver into the middle of a hood, lock, or ball of 

 beaver, and fecretes a part of the beft, which they, as well as the journeymen hat-makers, fell 

 to the inferior mafters at a low price ; dete(5tion in either cafe being almoft impoffible. The 

 journeyman hatter knows this, and can fay the beaver was light coloured ; though that 

 article mio-ht be very good, and the covering appear light from the hare wool or inferior beaver 

 put in by the journeyman hat-maker, after having ftolen an equal weight of good beaver 

 (the value of beft hare's wool being about i6s. per lb. and beaver from 30s. up to 60s. per lb.), 

 cfpecially if backs of hare's wool be weighed into the body. It is from thefe depredations 

 that the ufe of machines appears fo urgent : the fime inconveniencies attend the mafter fur- 

 rier or ficinner ; he does not examine each lock or ball of beaver minutely, for his time will 

 not allow him, and any mixture of inferior beaver (which is very eafily obtained and effected), 

 worth, as above, about 30s. with the beft at about 60s. and a part of that beft ftolen, will 

 within a very little time, arrive to a large amount. Thefe, and many fuch, will demand, I 

 had almoft faid, imperioufly, the attention of the ingenious mechanic, whilft the certain ad- 

 vantage from the above ftatement, will not be loft fight of by the fabricator, in examining the 

 ar<Tuments for and againft the introdudion of machines into each bufinefs. To the moralift, 

 who views the duplicity, the crimes and their parent ignorance of his fellows, the recolledtion 

 of the depravity fo deeply impreffed upon each circle of journeymen — from the eafe with which 

 thefe thefts may be conduced, from the great wages they receive, many in London more 

 than 3CS. per week, and from their confirmed habits of debauchery, confequent upon both 

 thefe — motives fufficiently ftrcng will prefent themfelves, to accelerate an enquiry, at leaji, 

 into the impediments, or the advantages, attending the introduftion of engines, if they were 

 cxily for the bowing, hardening, and bafoning, for then the journeymen would be totally 



hindered 



