Middlemen in English Business 321 



jealousy.^ There was a considerable trade to England.'- At the 

 same time London was importing much Scotch linen. ^ The century 

 following added much to the Scotch trade and manufacture.* The 

 British Linen Company advanced the Scotch industry by making 

 loans to the manufacturers and offering premiums on good work.'' A 

 part of the imports from Ireland and Scotland were re-exported, 

 particularly to Portugal.''' The linen trade of Europe was mostly in 

 the hands of the Russians and Germans and what warp was produced 

 at Darhngton was mostly consumed in the manufacture of Lancashire 

 fustians, and not pure linens.'^ 



The organization of the linen business, though not so well developed 

 and definitive, coincided closely with the woolens business. There was 

 the yarn-merchant who gathered up yarn through the country dis- 

 tricts and markets and exported it from Londonderry, Belfast, Newry, 

 Drogheda, Dublin, Dundalk and Colerain, to Liverpool.^ This was 

 made up in hanks or dozens, of prescribed length, quality, and number 

 of threads,^ and was inspected at the yarn-market where most of it 

 was bought and sold. The yarn-markets were furthered much b}' 

 the erection of yarn-halls: the yarn-merchant as well as the manu- 

 facturer was advantaged by the continuous market, display, and 

 variety of yarns.^° The function of the merchant was described as 

 follows by a writer in 1733: "Any Person who understands Yarn, 

 may buy it up in small Parcels from the Spinners, and sort it: and 

 when any Weaver, Housewife, or Clothmaker, has Occasion for Yarn, 

 they may be served by the Yarn-Merchants, with any Quantity they 

 want, all of the same Girst or Staple, Colour and Fineness, washed 

 and emptied, ready to be put in the Loom. (There will be) . . . 



' Cunningham, Growth, II, 369; see statistics of Irish exports of hnen in Oddy, 

 II, 309; see the following legislation: 21 Henry VIII, Ch. 12; 24 Henry VIII, Ch. 4; 

 5 Eliz., Ch. 5; 7-8 Wm. & M., Ch. 39. 



- Anderson, Origin, II, 518. 



' See statistics in Anderson, Origin, 498. The linen stamped for sale in Scotland 

 about 1730 and the bounties paid for its production are given statistically in Oddv, 

 II, 312. 



■' Anderson, Origin, IV, 149, 173-4; Macpherson, Annals, IV, 64. 



5 Ibid., Ill, 287; cf. 302, 312, 321. 



''Ibid., IV, 394-5. 



' Smith, Memoirs, II, 270. 



* Rep. from Com. II, 310, contains statistics for the period 1731-1750. 



'Gent. Mag., 1746:656. 



" "Some Reasons for Establishing," 1736. 



