the Carpet Maniifacture. 257 



to me that, after the principal figure has been determined on, 

 the skill of the designer is most severely exercised on the wrong 

 side of the carpet. His choice of materials is indeed as great 

 as with the common carpet, but then he is hampered by the 

 restriction in figure, and can only be entirely at ease opposite 

 a flat piece on the right side. The beauty of the triple carpet 

 is at once acknowledged : it possesses almost all the freedom in 

 colouring of the floor-cloth or paper-hanging, while its greater 

 thickness and comparative cheapness bring it into competition 

 with the more expensive kinds of carpeting. 



The inventor of this texture has conferred on us a very great 

 benefit : he has furnished us with a higher embellishment for 

 the interior of our dwellings, and presented to us another evi- 

 dence of the active benevolence and social disposition of man. 

 And it is agreeable to reflect that, in the nursing of the idea, 

 and the carrying of it into effect, he must have felt a pleasure 

 much more intense than is likely to be experienced by any of 

 the multitudes who will enjoy the fruits of his abilities. 



A desire for something in the interior of a dwelling analo- 

 gous to the soft clothing of the external world, seems to be 

 generally felt ; for in all states of society attempts are made to 

 remove the hardness and unseemliness of the floor. Among 

 the poorer nations, these attempts are confined to the mere dor- 

 mitories ; but, as advances are made in wealth, the mat and 

 the carpet begin to appear. The softness of the turf and more 

 than its smoothness having been attained, it was natural to imi- 

 tate also its embellishments : for this purpose several distinct 

 kinds of carpet texture have been contrived. On one of these 

 I have already reported an immense improvement, and pro- 

 ceed to describe a no less striking improvement on another. 



The Brussels carpet is distinguished from the common one 

 by having a raised pile, and by the circumstance that the 

 figures and colours are entirely produced from the warp. The 

 pile is raised by inserting a wire between the body of the warp 

 and the previously raised colouring threads. These threads 

 descend and are fixed by the woof, and after a few repetitions 

 of the process the wires are withdrawn. The Wilton carpet 

 differs only in this, that the pile is made somewhat longer, and 

 cut in the manner of velvet. Were the coloured warp, how- 



