709 



CHAINWORK. 



Chain- \J NDFU this head may very properly be ranged some 

 ''' of the most extensive and useful manufactures of this 

 country. The term Chaintvork is used for those 

 substances, whether lineal or superficial, in which 

 any kind of cordage or thread is linked together in 

 the form of a chain, for any purpose of useful or 

 ornamental manufacture. The variety of these is con- 

 siderable, and their utility renders all of the branches 

 very extensive. 



Of the lineal kind, the ornamental manufacture 

 known by the name of Tambouring, and now very 

 extensively practised in this part of Great Britain, is 

 the principal. 



Under the superficial, every class or branch of ho- 

 siery may be included, whether plain or ornamental ; 

 and all the varieties of the lace manufacture, as prac- 

 tised both upon the continent and in Great Britain. 

 It also may be considered as including every species 

 of n*t-work, whether of that flimsy and light kind, 

 which is manufactured either in the weaving loom or 

 stocking-frame ; or the more substantial kinds, em- 

 ployed in the various fisheries, for lining the sides of 

 ships of war, and many other purposes. These ma- 

 nufactures, being strictly little more than varieties 

 of the same class, it is proposed, in the present ar- 

 ticle, to give some account of them, in the following 

 order. 



1st, Lineal chaining, or tambour work, as exe- 

 cuted both by the hand and by the recently invented 

 machinery. 



2d, The various leading branches of the hosiery 

 or stocking manufacture. 



3d t Reticulation, or net-work of various kinds, 

 especially that which, by promoting and extending 

 the British fisheries, is of the most essential import- 

 ance to every branch of the community. 



It can hardly be expected, that, in a field so un- 

 boundedly extensive, every detail should be included ; 

 but if a general view of the whole, combined into 

 one focus, can be effected, the object will be in a 

 great degree attained. The first, then, to which at- 

 tention is to be paid, is the principles and practice of 

 tambour or chainwork on cloth. 



CHAP. I. 



Application of the principle of Chainwork to 

 Tambouring, or the production of ornamental 

 Flowers and Figures upon Cloth. 



Tambour- e close and compact form which the linking 



ing. f an y kind of thread or yarn, into the form of a 



chain, assumes when tacked upon the superficies of 

 the lighter fabrics of cloth, has been very successfully 

 and extensively applied to many species of ornamen- 

 tal manufactures of this description. Of the origin 

 of these manufactures, if any record has at all been 

 preserved, it has never reached the public view ; and 

 as it seems highly probable that most of them either 

 originated, or were first noticed, in those recesses of 



monastic seclusion, to which it became the policy t TamU0u;. 

 of the Roman Catholic priesthood, during the pleni- j"g^ 

 tude of the papal power, to devote even a very great s " "Y"^ 

 proportion of the female population of Europe, it 

 was hardly to be expected that arts, which were 

 deemed at least childish and nugatory by the men, 

 whose chief trade was war, and whose ambition 

 and interest alike were gratified by the profession 

 of arms, should form objects of curiosity or attention. 

 The priesthood alone, unenured, and probably but 

 little inclined to exercise in their own persons tho 

 military talents to which they were too often suf- 

 ficiently anxious to prompt the laity, were almost 

 the only depositories of every art, as well as every 

 science ; and their obvious policy dictated the conceal- 

 ment, more than the propagation, of every art and 

 science, by the knowledge of which either celebrity 

 or wealth might be attained. If this general princi- 

 ple be studied with candour and patience, we shall 

 be at very little loss to account for the almost uni- 

 versal ignorance of what are termed the dark ages ; 

 and it is at least a matter of some curiosity to trace the 

 same principle which directed the most powerful 

 empires and monarchies, even so low as to regulate 

 the casual employment of the meanest female. In 

 the exercise of most of those manufactures which we 

 have derived from our intercourse with our conti- 

 nental neighbours, we have, very naturally and very 

 wisely, been at more pains to adapt tLern to suit our 

 own purposes, than to conceal their origin ; and the 

 original names remaining, generally serve us to trace 

 their origin. 



The original frame upon which cloth is stretched 

 to undergo the operation of the hook, which forma 

 the chainwork upon its surface, consists of two cir- 

 cular hoops ; the outer ring being coated round with 

 lists of cloth, or any other soft and compressible 

 substance. The cloth being stretched over the inner 

 ring, the outer is applied, and the friction of the 

 two gives the whole means of tension. These frames, 

 or hoops, in their most simple form, are merely held 

 between the knee and the chin of the operator, while 

 working. As this is a clumsy and inconvenient pos- 

 ture, the first improvement seems to have been con- 

 fined to the addition of a pedestal, upon which the 

 hoops might rest, and the female, who performed the 

 work, might sit in a more easy posture while at her 

 employment, or leave it with ease and security for 

 the purpose of attending to any other domestic occu- 

 pation. 



Such has been, and probably still is, the state of 

 this art upon the continent, excepting in Switzerland, 

 where it has been long a source of marketable profit, 

 rather than domestic ornament. 



As an ornamental branch of what is termed ladies* 

 ti'or/i, it has been long known and practised in Bri- 

 tain; but its introduction, as an article of general ma. 

 nufacture, is much more recent than the first prac- 

 tice. The introduction of it into the western part 

 of Scotland, where it is chiefly exercised, hardly ex. 



