FLAX, OR LINE. 201 



asbestos was a thing known to every body 

 at Venice ; and it is said to be still in use by 

 the Princes of Tartary, in burning their dead. 



A handkerchief made of this substance, 

 which Dr. Plot judges to be of a nature be- 

 tween stone and earth, was long since pre- 

 sented to the Royal Society of London. 

 This has given several proofs of its resisting 

 fire ; and when taken out red hot, it did 

 not burn a piece of white paper, on which it 

 was laid. 



The asbestos is found in the island of An- 

 glesey in Wales, and in Aberdeenshire in 

 Scotland, in some parts of France, in Tar- 

 tary, Siberia, and several other places ; and 

 were there a demand for this incombustible 

 cloth, or a price given equal to the trouble of 

 manufacturing it, we should soon recover the 

 art, and have it on sale in the shops of our 

 metropolis. 



But to return to flaxen linen : by looking 

 back into history we shall find, that it was 

 used for other purposes than garments at a 

 very early period ; for the stupendous tem- 

 ples of the heathens, and the courts of their 

 palaces in ancient times, were open buildings 

 surrounded with massive columns, and orna- 

 mented with gigantic statues of their gods, 



