233 



THREAD AND YARX. 



THREAD AND YAHN. 



231 



Chords designated 

 t by figures. 



Accompanying 

 intervals. 



^th, \ accompanied by an . . 8th. 



fith (sharp 6th),, . . .-I ^rd. 



9th, ... 3rd and 5th. 



^th, | ... 5th, 



yth, | ... 3rd. 



n (sharp 7th) ... 5th, 4th, and 2nd. 



Some other chords of an extraordinary kind are occasionally formed; 

 but they are always clearly denoted, in Tliorowjh-Base, by an ample 

 number of figures. 



The afjore chords exemplified. 



'fcd&=tt=^f^a=$=*i:\\ <> If-oHl _ Irzr^. 



^=^EEEgEEL==H:. " 1 1 8 rr-gg^c~B 1 1 g3B 



6 6 4 (or fi) 



3 5 8 47 53 



4 5 4N 



2 4 (or) 4 fi(or3^ 



9 

 9 4 



When two figures are placed in succession over one base note, the 

 time of the Litter is divided between them. Example : 



A sharp, or flat, or natural, placed alone over a base note, relates 

 solely to the 3rd. Example : 



When other intervals are to be raised or lowered, the proper cha- 

 racters (or the purpose are prefixed to them. A dash through a figure 

 is equivalent to a sharp. 



The practice of figuring a base staff, whether in a score or in the part 

 assigned to a keyed instrument, has fallen into disuse, the harmony 

 being now fully and clearly presented to the eye of the accompanyist 

 in notes placed in a treble staff over the base. But a knowledge of 

 what is yet too commonly misnamed TkorotighJjate, that is to say, 

 harmony, is absolutely indispensable 'to the good musician, and very 

 much abbreviates the labour of those who, as amateurs, only aspire to 

 a practical skill either as vocal or instrumental performers. The rules 

 of harmony stand in the same relation to music as those of grammar 

 do to language. 



The invention of a 1'iyured Sate (/lotto C'ifrato, as the Italians BO 

 well denominate it) has been stated to have taken place in 1605, and is 

 only attributed to Ludovico Viadana, Maestro di Capptlla, at the 

 cathedral of Mantua. But thin kind of musical abbreviation was 

 earlier 'practised, and by an English composer, Kichard Deering, who, 

 in l.V.i?, published hi Cantionu Sacra, at Antwerp, in which a 

 figured base appears. And we have now before us Jacopo Peri's 

 serious opera Euridice, printed at Florence in 1600, in which the base 

 is figured throughout. Lying by ua also is Caccini's Nuore Mutiche, 

 likewise printed at Florence, but one year later, and here we find the 

 base regularly figured. 



THUEAD AND YARN. The distinction between thread and yarn 

 is such as to render it desirable to describe them together under the 

 present heading. 



Yarn in the general name given to the threads which are woven into 

 the various kinds of textile fabrics, whether cotton, silk, flax, hemp 

 rated; the terms tieitt, mule-weft, onjanzine, tram, iM, Inn- 

 &c., being [articular names applied to particular sorts. Yarn for 

 cotton-weaving is of two distinct kinds, according as it is intended for 

 warp or weft ; each kind being varied to suit different fabrics. Water 

 i-'atle-yarn (the first name having been derived from the 

 water-frame by which this kind of yarn was formerly spun, and the 

 second from the throstle now employed) is smooth and wiry, and is 

 usually employed for warp in heavy goods, such as fustians, corduroys 

 or for making sewing-thread. Mute-yarn (named from the mule machine 

 by which it is spun) is of a soft and downy nature, calculated for the 

 weft in coarse goods, and for both warp and weft in finer fabrics. Tb 



pun yaru is distinguished by certain numerals, which indicate the 

 lumber of hanks contained iu one pound, each hank consisting of 840 

 ards of yarn. The two kinds of machines are adapted for different 

 numbers ; thus, the throstle is not now often employed for yarns finer 

 han No. 30 or 40, the higher numbers being generally spun by the 

 mule. By successive improvements in the machinery employed, yarn 

 s now spun to an exquisite degree of fineness, several hundred miles of 

 arn being spun from one pound of cotton. The excellence and 

 cheapness of the yarn spun by modern machinery has led to very large 

 exports. Flax-yarn is not estimated by No., like cotton, but by terms 

 >eculiar to that branch of spinning. Three hundred yards form a lea, 

 of flax-yarn ; 38 leas form a spindle ; 6 leas form a rand ; 72 leas, or 

 21,600 yards, or 12 randa, form a dozen. There is this difference, how- 

 ever : in Scotland, flax yarn is designated by the number of Ibs. in 48 

 eas ; thus the same yarn is known in England as No. 48, and in 

 Scotland as 1 Ib. yarn. In the process of preparation by spinning, 

 he flax becomes separated into two qualities, the finer obtaining the 

 name of line, and the coarser that of tow ; and the yam spun from 

 ,hese two qualities is applied to different purposes. Modern improve- 

 ments have led to the production of such fine qualities of line, that 

 t is now used in combination with silk in pocket handkerchiefs 

 and other fabrics. With regard to hemp, besides the yarn employed 

 :or weaving into sacking and other coarse goods, the term yaru is 

 applied in rope-making in a different sense. The yarn in this case 

 is a loose kind of string or cord, and it receives a No. according to 

 ;he number of such strings required in making ropes three inches in 

 ircumference ; thus, Nos. 18, 20, or 25 imply such thicknesses of 

 yarn that 18, 20, or 25 of them are required in making a rope of the 

 limen.-iuns just stated. Silk-yam has names applied to it not known 

 ,n the examples just given. The silk is imported as a fine filament, or 

 in the state of raw silk ; it is twisted as a means of giving it greater 

 firmness of texture, and then obtains the name of singles ; two fila- 

 ments are twisted together rather loosely, and formed into a yarn 

 called tram, which commonly forms the weft or cross-threads of manu- 

 factured goods ; lastly, two or more filaments are twisted separately into 

 liard tinyUi, and then twisted together in an opposite direction, forming 

 a strong silken yarn called oryanzine, used generally for warp. Silk- 

 yarn in the form of tram or organzine, that is, ready for the weaver, is 

 called thrutcti silk. Yarn made from wool is called woollen or worsted, 

 according as it is formed from short or from long wool, from clothing 

 or from combing wool. The former of these is so spun that the 

 elementary fibres shall be in a fit state for felting or fulling ; while the 

 latter has the filaments ranged more nearly parallel. The worsted 

 yarns are further divided into the coarse and the fine, according as 

 they are to be used for hosiery or for such goods as mousseline-de- 

 laines, fine merinoes, &c. 



Thread is a stronger kind of yarn. Whether or not it is composed 

 of a greater number of filaments, it is twisted more closely, and has a 

 harder and smoother surface. Most of it is used iu needlework, as 

 xi i'-iny-thread ; but some is employed in net and lace making, and iu 

 other ways, though seldom in actual weaving. The manufacture of 

 thread was first attempted in this country by Mrs. Millar, of Balgarran, 

 in 1 722, on having received some information and machinery from 

 Holland. Her example was speedily followed by several families in 

 Paisley, where the manufacture soon became of considerable impor- 

 tance. The first manufacturers imitated the kind called Nuns' or 

 ounce thread, which was made up in hanks of forty threads each, 

 reeled upon reels a yard in circumference ; but when the profits of the 

 manufacture were diminished by competition, it was injured by the 

 surreptitious practices of some of the manufacturers. It was even 

 deemed necessary, in 1788, to pass an act of parliament requiring all 

 manufacturer!) of thread to use uniform standard reels of thirty-six 

 inches in circumference, and to put thirty threads or rounds of the 

 reel in each hank. 



The manufacture of thread from fibres of cotton-wool, for sewing 

 and other purposes, is one of the many important departments of 

 British industry called into exercise by the improvements effected by 

 Arkwright and his successors in spinning-machinery. The operation 

 of combining yarns of cotton or linen into thread is performed by a 

 machine called a doubling and twisting frame, somewhat resembling 

 the throstle of the cotton-spinner. Along the centre of the machine is 

 an elevated creel or frame-work, which supports two parallel rows of 

 cops or bobbins of yarn. The cops are placed vertically, or nearly so, 

 and the lower ends of their axes rest in oiled steps or hollows, while 

 the upper ends are supported by wire eyes, so that they may revolve 

 with facility. The number of cops is twice as great as that of the 

 twisting spindles when the thread is to consist of two yarns, three 

 times as 'great for thread formed of three yarns, &c. The yarn with 

 which they are charged is frequently ijamed, or passed quickly through 

 a series of gas flames, to singe off any loose downy fibres. From the 

 cops the yarns are conducted over horizontal glass rods, which are fixed 

 parallel with the creel, and thence downwards into troughs filled with 

 water or very thin starch-paste. To ensure the equal moistening of 

 the yarns they are, while being drawn through the troughs, made to 

 pass either under a glass rod, or through eyes. After being wetted the 

 yarns pass over the rounded edge of the trough, which is covered with 

 flannel for the purpose of absorbing the superfluous moisture ; and 

 thence under and partly around an iron roller, which is made to 



