CLO 



CLU 



whose parts do not much exceed in size 

 those of a common clock. 



CLOSE, in heraldry. When any bird is 

 drawn in a coat of arms with iits wings 

 close down about it, (i. e. not displayed,) 

 and in a standing posture, they blazon it 

 by this word close ; but if it be flying, 

 they call it volant. 



CLOSE hauled, in marine language, the 

 arrangement of a ship's sails, when she 

 endeavours to make progress in the near- 

 est direction possible towards that point 

 of the compass from which the wind 

 blows ; in this manner of sailing the keel 

 of square rigged vessels commonly makes 

 an angle of six points with the line of the 

 wind, but cutters, luggers, and other 

 fore and aft rigged vessels, will sail much 

 nearer. 



CLOSE quarters, strong barriers of 

 wood stretching across a merchant ship, 

 in several places : they are used as a 

 place of retreat when a ship is boarded 

 by her adversary, and are therefore fit- 

 ted with loop-holes, through which to 

 fire the small arms. An English merchant 

 ship of 16 guns, properly fitted with close 

 ^ quarters, has defeated the united efforts 

 'of three French privateers who boarded 

 her. 



CLOTH, a woven fabric, composed of 

 wool, flax, cotton, or hemp, either sepa- 

 rate or mixed. Woollen cloths consist 

 chiefly of broad cloths, kerseymeres, 

 flannels, shalloons, serges, baizes, &c. : 

 the two former are the most valuable, 

 and will be chiefly noticed. The wool 

 should be of the best quality, and in the 

 best state of preparation, before it is sent 

 to the loom. Formerly Spanish wool 

 bore a very high price with us, but of 

 late years we have, by obtaining some of 

 the sheep of that country, established a 

 breed, which is found to yield a finer 

 sample than even the pure Marino. The 

 justly celebrated Dr. Parry, of Bath, has 

 sedulously attended to this point, and has 

 produced fleeces, which, in regard to 

 fineness and length of staple, are obvious, 

 ly superior, being as six to five when 

 compared with the Spanish. Hence our 

 woollens have latterly been less indebted 

 to importation, and we may fairly expect 

 to see our flocks become doubly valu- 

 able. The cloths are woven in a common 

 loom, and the superfluous nap is taken 

 off by a very ingenious contrivance, called 

 the shearer, not unlike the blade of a 

 scythe, which, with a regular motion 

 given by various machinery, completely 

 levels the surface, and fits it for the last 

 process : this is done by the teazel, a 

 kind of thistle, which grows in hedge 



rows, but is in many parts cultivated fox 

 the supply of manufactories. The heads 

 of the teazles are inserted into grooves in 

 long battens, so as to appear, and to act-, 

 like brushes ; these brushes extend the 

 whole breadth of the cloth, and are set all 

 around a cylinder, which brushes the 

 cloth by its rotatory motion, rendering 

 its surface beautifully glossy and smooth. 

 The appearance is, however, greatly im- 

 proved by pressing. The coarser kinds 

 of cloth undergo little finishing. Linens 

 are made of bleached flax ; they are 

 chiefly manufactured in Ireland and Scot- 

 land, both which countries derive essen- 

 tial advantages from their manufactures, 

 especially as they produce the raw ma- 

 tei'ial. Cotton must be imported in its 

 raw state ; a circumstance which gives 

 employ to many thousands of our poor ; 

 though the muslins, calicoes, &c. are ge- 

 nerally made from the thread formed by 

 machinery. Hemp makes SAIL-CLOTH, 

 CANVAS, &c. which see. The manufacto- 

 ries for woollens and linens in the United 

 Kingdoms are supposed to give bread to 

 near a million of persons. The importa- 

 tion of foreign cloths is therefore very 

 wisely prohibited. For further particu- 

 lars, see WEAVING. 



CLOUD, a visible aggregate of minute 

 drops of water, suspended in the atmo- 

 sphere. It is concluded, from numerous 

 observations, that the particles of which 

 a cloud consists are always more or less 

 electrified. The hypothesis, which as- 

 sumes the existence of vesicular vapour, 

 and makes the particles of clouds to be 

 hollow spheres, which unite, and descend 

 in rain when ruptured, however sanction- 

 ed by the authority of several eminent 

 philosophers, does not seem necessary to 

 the science of meteorology in its present 

 state ; it being evident that the buoyan- 

 cy of the particles is not more perfect 

 than it ought to be, if we regard them as 

 mere drops of water. In fact, they al- 

 ways descend, and the water is elevated 

 again only by being converted into invi- 

 sible vapour. See METEOROLOGY. 



CLUE, in marine language, is the 

 lower corners of square sails ; but the 

 aftmost only of stay-sails, &.c. the other 

 lower corner being called the tack. 



CLUES of a hammock, the combination 

 of small lines by which it is suspended. 



CLUPEA, the herring, in natural histo- 

 ry, a genus of fishes of the order Abdo- 

 minales. Generic character : head com- 

 pressed; mouth compressed and inter- 

 nally rough ; jaws unequal ; tongue short 

 and rough ; with inverted teeth ; side- 

 plates of the apper mandible serrated ; 



