COTTON. 167 



world with these goods ; which, instead of 

 being imported from the East, are at present 

 shipped for the Indies in great quantities. By 

 the aid of our machinery we also produce 

 from cotton, lace of so even a fabric, and at 

 prices so infinitely below what it can be made 

 for in linen thread, that it has in a great 

 measure superseded the use of real lace. 



Manchester, being the centre and heart of 

 the cotton-trade, has either given birth to, or 

 attracted genius from all quarters of the nation, 

 to assist in the necessary operations for form- 

 ing fabrics as numerous as their embellishing 

 colours are various, in which the arts of the 

 engineer, the mechanic, and the artist, as well 

 as the spinner, the weaver, the bleacher, the 

 dyer, the stainer, and the chemist, are all 

 called into action. 



This vegetable wool, that employs so great 

 a portion of our population, is imported in a 

 raw useless state, and is advantageously ex- 

 ported, after being stamped with British art 

 and industry. 



The following account of a pound weight 

 of unmanufactured cotton strikingly evinces 

 the importance of the trade and employ af- 

 forded by this vegetable : " The cotton-wool 



