WOOLLEN MANUFACTURE, 



The confufion attendant on a great revolution, continued 

 for twenty years, gave fo fevere a blow to the manufaftur- 

 ing eitabhfhments of France, that a confiderable time muft 

 elapfe before they are completely eftabhfhed. Prior to this 

 revolution, the fuperfine cloths of France were fuperior 

 to thofe of England, in texture, colours, and foftnefs. In 

 the finer articles of worfted goods, and in the mixed 

 worfted goods made partly with long combing-wool, and 

 partly with filk or goat's-wool from the Levant, they fur- 

 paffed the manufactures of this country ; but the manufac- 

 turers of the commoner kinds of worfted goods, as tam- 

 mies and (balloons, could not rival us in foreign markets 

 for want of a proper fupply of wool fuited to the purpofe. 

 The following were the principal feats of the fuperfine 

 and fine woollen manufaftures in France, arranged ac- 

 cording to the different qualities of the goods made at 

 each, beginning with the fineft : 



1. The manufaftures of Gobelins. 



2. Of Sedan. 



3. Of Abbeville. 



4. Of Louviers. 



5. OfElbcEuf. 



6. Of Rouen and Darnetal. 



Befides feveral detached manufafturing eftablilhments of 

 iuperfine cloth in Languedoc, Champagne, and other parts 

 of France. 



At the Gobelins, fuperfine cloths of the very firft quality 

 ■were manufaftured ; but the manufaftures there were con- 

 fined folely to the broadeft white cloth intended to be dyed 

 fcarlet or purple, and the brighteft colours from cochineal. 



Sedan followed next to Gobelins for the beauty of its 

 fuperfine cloths, where they were alfo made of various 

 breadths and colours. 



Abbeville may be placed next after Sedan : fome have 

 even fuppofed that it equalled Sedan in the finenefs of its 

 cloths ; but this arofe from the cloths of the latter place 

 being of various forts : the lower kinds were certainly infe- 

 rior to thofe of Abbeville ; but the quality of the greater 

 part of the cloths of Sedan were of a better kind than the 

 average quality of the cloths of Abbeville. In the manu- 

 faftures of Sedan, each manufafturer confined himfelf to a 

 particular kind of cloth, for which he became diftinguiflied, 

 fome being celebrated for fine, and otliers for fuperfine 

 cloths exclufively ; whereas in Abbeville, Louviers, and the 

 other diftrifts enumerated, there were manufafturers who 

 made various forts, and the proportion of the fine to the 

 fuperfine was greater than at Sedan. 



Elbceuf was one of the moft ancient feats of the woollen 

 manufafture in France, but the quality of the cloths made 

 there had greatly degenerated from the years 1 760 to 1 770 ; 

 but afterwards the manufafturers returned to the former 

 quality of their cloths, which were partly made of the fine 

 wools from Befry, and partly from fine Spanifti wool, or 

 from a mixture of Spanifh with the beft wools of Berry. 



Rouen and Darnetal may be placed in the fixth clafs of 

 manufafturing diftrifts of fine cloth, in which the fineft 

 wools of France were principally ufed, mixed with thofe 

 of Spain. 



The eftabliftiments for the manufafture of common 

 cloth and coarfe woollens were much more widely fpread 

 over France. TJhe goods appear to have been principally 

 confumed in that country to fupply the demand of a popu- 

 lation of twenty millions, and the numerous military ella- 

 blifhments, befides what might be fent to the French 

 colonies. 



As the French never exported any confiderable quantity 

 ot common or coarfe woollen cloths, the manufaftures 

 ot thefe articles never equalled in extent thofe of England. 

 1 he circumftance of the coarfe cloth manufafture being fo 

 widely fpread over the country, tended alfo to prevent that 

 degree of rivalry which promotes the fpirit of impr6vement 

 where manufaftures are more concentrated ; add to this, 

 the French had not that abundant fupply of the coarfer 

 clothing-wools which could enable them to rival us in the 

 export of heavy woollen goods. 



The worfted manufaftures of France, including ferges 

 and thofe goods made with a warp of worfted, were princi- 

 pally carried on in four of the provinces of France, but more 

 extenfively in Picardy than elfewhere. The long combing- 

 wools which fupplied this manufafture, were partly the 

 produce of France, and partly imported from Holland, 

 England, Flanders, and Germany. M. RoUand, in the 

 French Encyclopaedia, defcribing the French manufaftures 

 in the year 1783, foon after the American war, fays, that 

 during that war the Englifti adminiftration tacitly en- 

 couraged the exportation of wool to promote the interefts 

 of agriculture. He defcribes the French combing-wool as 

 being coarfer and more harlh than the wool of Holland, as 

 wafting much more in the manufafture, and making goods of 

 a very inferior quality. The combing-wools of England, 

 though generally lefs found and fine, and of a lefs pure 

 white, than thofe of Holland, were particularly well fuited 

 to fome parts of the worfted manufafture. 



The combing-wools from Germany were coarfe and 

 harfh, and only ufed in default of other fupplies. Very 

 fine worfted yarn was alfo obtained from Saxony and the 

 environs of Gottingen ; but this yarn was tender, and re- 

 quired to be mixed with worfted yarn from Englifh or 

 Dutch wool. The yarn of Turcoign was fuppofed to be 

 Dutch, but was principally from Flanders and Artois. 

 The goat's-wool came from the Levant, by way of Mar- 

 feilles, in bales of from 200 to 300 lbs. It fold from four 

 livres to twelve livres per French pound ; the price of that 

 moft generally ufed was about 4 livres 10 fous per pound. 

 The filks ufed in filk camelots, &c. were obtained from 

 Paris and Lyons. 



The following table gives the quantity and value of 

 wool yarns and worfted pieces in Picardy ; but he fuppofes 

 the quantity to be under the real amount, the manufafturers 

 concealing the extent of their trade to avoid arbitrary 

 taxation. 



Wool confumed in the IVorJled Manufa8ures of Picardy. 



fous. livres. 



French wool 3200000 at 22 3520000 



Dutch ditto 180000 at 40 360000 



Englifti ditto 200000 at 32 320000 



German ditto 1 00000 at 22 11 0000 



