RIBBON-FISH 



RIBEAUVILLB 



699 



by Bird at the beginning of the 18th century. 

 Coventry was at that time a city of 12,817 inhabit- 

 ants. The population increased with the progress 

 of the ribbon industry, until in 1861 it was 41,638. 

 In I860 there were 8886 looms; but in 1885 not 

 one-third of this number was employed, and the 

 number is much less now. In 1861 there were 

 40,600 people dependent upon the ribbon trade, in 

 1881 not more than a fourth. The ruin and migra- 

 tion of the trade to the Continent arose from two 

 causes first, strikes, particularly the great one of 

 I860; second, the French treaty of 1860, before 

 which this branch was protected by a duty of 15 to 

 30 per cent. The great competition of Basel and 

 St Etienne then soon ruined the production of 

 Coventry, for at these old centres labour was then 

 much cheaper, the hours of work longer, and taste 

 aud style superior, particularly at St Etienne. 

 Crefeld, Moscow, and especially Paterson in New 

 Jersey, are also manufacturing centres. Amongst 

 the various kinds of ribbons woven in Coventry 

 are the following : Taffeta, gros-grain, twill, satin, 

 satinette, ottoman-satin, ami terry, plush, brocade, 

 faille, plaids, watered satins, birthday-ribbons, and 

 book-markers, sarsnets, orientals, waistbands, and 

 other plain and figured narrow fabrics. Of the 

 names which indicate the kind of groundwork, 

 gros-grain is a ribl>ed silk ; plush, a velvety or pile 

 surface ; satin, a smooth polished surface, &c. ; and 

 there are mixtures of these various fabrics, generally 

 woven in stripes, faille with satin, satin with terry, 

 velvet with satin, plain and figured in conjunction, 

 making an infinite variety of decorative effects both 

 in weaving ami colour. 



The construction of the fabric of a ribbon is like 

 that of broad silks viz. the threads or warp (Fr. 

 rfmiiir) lengthwise; those at right angles, or shot 

 across the riblion, the shute or weft (Fr. frame). 

 The warp consists of many threads, the shute which 

 interweaves the warp of one, or at most a few only, 

 according to the number of colours or style of fabric 

 required. There are two kinds of looms or methods 

 of weaving, hand-looms and power-looms, the latter 

 having gradually but surely superseded the former, 

 except for very artistic work. These two looms are 

 also of two kinds, those which weave plain goods and 

 those which weave figured or patterned work. The 

 jatter are called Jacquard looms (see WEAVING); 

 in these every warp-thread is so isolated as to be 

 under mechanical control, and can be raised or not 

 independently of every other thread. These warp- 

 threads are raised by means of the ' harness ' to 

 allow of the shute to pass between the whole or 

 parts of the warp-threads according to the pattern 

 or style required. The harness is composed of 

 ' leishes,' the purpose of which is to raise at will the 

 warp-threads, each of which requires one leish. 

 The term ' shed ' is applied to the warp when separ- 

 ated horizontally by the harness for the shuttle to 

 pass between ; this is called the 'opening,' that in 

 the upper surface l>eing termed the top shed, and 

 the lower part the bottom shed. The shuttle con- 

 tains the quill in which has been wound the ' filling,' 

 which is a portion of the shute or weft-thread, and 

 is propelled in the shuttle between the warp-threads 

 by hand or by other power, generally steam-power. 

 In front of this complicated mechanism is the 

 'slay' or 'reed,' which is a comb-like apparatus 

 through which the warp-threads pass before they 

 receive the shute into its resting-place in the fabric. 

 The Jacquanl arrangement is placed on the top of 

 the loom, and consists of perforated cards, with the 

 requisite machinery to work them. See SILK. 



Ribbon-fish, a name given to several genera 

 of Acanthopterous fishes having the body "much 

 compressed and band-like, the dorsal fin extending 

 the whole length of the back, the anterior rays 

 being long and distinct, the skeleton soft, and 



the skin naked and silvery. They are true deep- 

 sea fishes, and are widely distributed, though 

 nowhere abundant. Some authorities divide them 

 into two groups the Trachypteridie, having long 

 ventral fins, and occasionally attaining to a length 

 of 10 feet, with a thickness of scarcely an inch ; aud 

 the Regalecidse, with the ventral fins represented 

 by single, oar-like filaments. The best-known 

 species is Regaleciis banksit, the Dealfish (q.v.). 



Ribhonisin, the name assumed by a group of 

 secret associations among the lower classes in 

 Ireland throughout the half century extending 

 from 1820 to 1870, at its greatest height from about 

 1835 to 1855. Its origin and organisation are alike 

 wrapped in obscurity, but it appears in the begin- 

 ning at least to have been political in its aims, and 

 O'Connell's opinion seems most probable, that it 

 grew out of the northern Defenders who banded 

 themselves to oppose the Orange organisation. 

 Earlier associations with somewhat similar aims 

 were the Whiteboys and the Threshers, and, in 

 particular corners of the island, the Carders, 

 Shanavests, and Caravats. 



Ribbonism, according to O'Connell, was more 

 political in the north, in presence of the organisa- 

 tion of the Orange lodges ; in the south it flowed 

 rather into what he characterised as ' driftless acts 

 of outrage.' Although everywhere condemned by 

 the Catholic clergy, it included none but Catholics 

 within its numbers, and it maintained its influence 

 by a system of oaths and secret signs and passwords. 

 Of these many were made known to the authorities 

 by informers, but they were found to contradict com- 

 pletely rather than merely differ from each other. 

 One striking feature of Ribboiiism, as distinguished 

 from most Irish patriotic associations, was the fact 

 that its adherents belonged exclusively to the very 

 lowest and most ignorant classes, the humbler 

 peasantry, farm-servants, labourers, and petty 

 shopkeepers, hardly even the smallest farmers or 

 their sons apparently belonging to it in any part 

 of Ireland. So far as there was any unity in 

 its aims, it aimed at making itself a public con- 

 science on all agrarian questions ; but, as A. M. 

 Sullivan pointed out, the Kibbonism of one period 

 and of one district was not the Ribbonism of 

 another. ' In Ulster it professed to be a defen- 

 sive or retaliatory league against Orangeism. In 

 Munster it was at first a combination against 

 tithe-proctors. In Connanght it was an organisa- 

 tion against rack-renting and evictions. In Leinster 

 it often was mere trade-unionism, dictating by its 

 mandates and enforcing by its vengeance the 

 employment or dismissal of workmen, stewards, 

 and even domestics. This latter phase generally 

 preceded the disappearance of the system in a 

 particular locality, and was evidently the lowest 

 and basest form to which it sank or rotted in 

 decay. ' 



The name, which of course originated in a green 

 badge worn by the members, does not appear to 

 have been attached to it till about 1826 ; and its 

 influence seems to have grown gradually till alxmt 

 1855, from which time it began rapidly to decline 

 before a healthier public opinion and a growing 

 political intelligence that recognised the greater 

 wl vantage of more open and legitimate agitation. 

 Here and there traces of a demoralised Ribbonism 

 survived, capable of an occasional outbreak into 

 malignant crime, but its declaration as illegal by 

 ;he Westmeath Act of 1871 was hardly better than 

 a mere flogging of the bodies of the slain. 



See W. Stewart Trench, Rmlitiei of Irieh Life (1868), 

 and A. M. Sullivan, New Ireland (1877). 



Ribeanville (Ger. Rajrpoltsweiler), a town of 

 Upper Alsace, pleasantly situated amid vineyards 

 at the west foot of the Vosges, 33 miles SSW. of 



