CAM 



Cmbray CAMBRAY, the Camaracum or C<i>araO*m 

 Nerviortnn of the ancients, a city of France, and the 

 Caml>nc. p r j M( .;,, a i pj ace o f a district in the department of the 

 ^ J ^ v ~ 1 North, is situated on the banks of the Scheldt, by 

 which it is divided into two parts. The city is 

 large, well built, neat and clean, and everywhere 

 exhibits the remains of wealth and prosperity. 

 Though the town is irregular, and the suburbs 

 mean, yet the streets are spacious, and the pub- 

 lic buildings magnificent. Tne houses are all built 

 in the Spanish fashion, with their gable ends towards 

 the street. The place or square for arms is so 

 large as to contain the whole garrison in order of 

 battle; and, though irregular, it has a fine effect. 

 The principal hotel and the Episcopal palace are 

 superb edifices ; and the pyramidal steeple of the 

 cathedral has been much admired, though it is still 

 inferior to the steeples at Vienna, Strasburg, and 

 Antwerp. There are more than 600 steps from the 

 ground to the foot of the spire, which receives no 

 support either from carpentry or iron -work, and 

 which appears to be as high as the rest of the build- 

 ing. Exclusive of the cathedral, there are two col- 

 legiate churches and eight parish churches, together 

 with several abbeys and hospitals. Cambray is well 

 fortified, being defended by a fort, and by a strong 

 though ancient citadel ; and, as the adjacent country 

 may be inundated, it is reckoned one of the strong- 

 est cities of the Netherlands. 



Cambray was formerly one of the most celebrated 

 cities in Europe, for its manufacture of fine stuffs ; 

 and its commerce, favoured by the Scheldt, which 

 is however scarcely navigable up to the town, con- 

 tributed to enrich its inhabitants. Since the esta- 

 blishment of similar manufactures at St Quintin and 

 Valenciennes, those of Cambray have sustained a 

 very considerable diminution. The manufactures 

 carried on at present (1812) in Cambray, are those 

 of linen, cambric, lace, black soap, tapestries, ho- 

 eiery ; and there is also a very extensive bleaching 

 establishment, and a refinery of salt. In the year 

 1779, there were manufactured at Cambray, 977 

 pieces of lawn |ds wide ; 77 pieces of lawn |ths 

 wide ; 7578 pieces of cambric ; 171 pieces of striped 

 lawn ; and 6 pieces of lawn wrought with gold, silver, 

 &c. ; and about 10,000 pieces of cloth were bleach- 

 ed during the same year. Fairs, which continue for 

 nine days, and at which all sorts of merchandise are 

 sold, are held on the 25th of April and the 28th of 

 October. Population 15,600. East long. 3 13' 41", 

 North lat. 50 lO 7 32". See Bygge's Travels, p. 55, ' 

 56; and Tynna's Almanack du Commerce, 1811, 

 p. 755. (o) 



CAMBRIA. See WALES. 



CAMBRIC, one of the finest and most dense 

 species of the cloth manufacture. The French 

 cambric, although its importation into this coun- 

 try be prohibited by law, is held in the greatest esti- 

 mation. Cambrics, in imitation of the French, are 

 also manufactured in Ireland; and the encourage- 

 ment of this manufacture, along with other political 

 causes, probably induced the legislature to impose 

 the prohibition. The cambric used, which is the 

 measure of fineness in every species of cloth, is cal- 

 culated upon a different scale from those used in the 



VOL. V. PART I. 



CAM 



linen manufactures of this country and Ireland. The Camhrlr. 



Scotch and Irish reeds are computed according to 



the number of hundreds of splits or divisions which 

 contain in 37 inches, that bring the measure of 



the Scotch ell ; the Dutch reeds for Holland cloth, 

 are reckoned by the number contained in 40 inches ; 

 and the French cambric reed by the number contain- 

 ed in 34 inches. In Lancashire and Cheshire, the 

 mode of computation is entirely different ; and even 

 those counties, although contiguous, differ as much 

 from each other as they do from the Scotch, the 

 Dutch, and the French. The small table annexed 

 to this article, exhibits a comparative view of the 

 Scottish liru-n, with the French cambric reed, by 

 using which, the one standard may be reduced to its 

 nearest equivalent measure on the other at a single 

 glance. The city of Cambray, and the adjacent dis- 

 tricts of what were formerly denominated the French 

 Netherlands, were formerly the seat of this manufac- 

 ture. How far it has suffered by the vicissitudes of 

 revolution and the calamities of war, we have no 

 accurate means of ascertaining. The texture of 

 cambric being remarkable, both for its fineness 

 and its closeness, the excellence of the manufac- 

 ture must depend in a much greater degree upon 

 the quality of the raw material, than upon the skill 

 or dexterity of the artizan ; and rich as the soil of 

 Ireland is acknowledged to be, this single cause pre- 

 sents a physical obstruction to their rivalling the 

 French in this species of manufacture, unsurmount- 

 able by any invention which human ingenuity can 

 devise, or by any exertion of labour which human 

 industry can produce. Where nature has denied the 

 requisites, industry may be misdirected and ingenuity 

 misapplied; but the object never will or can be at- 

 tained. In the operation of weaving, there is nothing 

 particular. It is merely very fine plain cloth, of a 

 stout fabric, and is now very successfully imitated 

 in cotton, although the softness of the cotton fibre* 

 will render it impossible that it should ever rival the 

 flax in that glossy smoothness for which it is chiefly 

 admired. From thete circumstances, it seems in vain 

 to expect that the cambric manufacture can ever be 

 attempted, with any rational probability of success, 

 in any part of the British dominions. 



Comparative Table of Cambric, Linen, and Holland 

 Reeds, exhibiting at one view the ratio which they 

 bear to each other respectively. 



EXPLANATION. 



The measure of the cambric reed is the number of 



divisions contained in 34 inches ; that of the linen 



reed in 37 inches ; and that of the holland reed in 



40 inches. The linen reed is therefore counted by 



2 N 



