£S L A C 
forms nearly the whole of the information that has been 
conveyed to us with refpedt to it; and as yet, therefore, 
nothing either very {hiking, or very important, has been 
communicated by the dilcovery. It is to be lamented 
that Dr. Pearfon had fo fmall a quantity of matter to ope¬ 
rate upon in his experiments, as it becomes difficult, from 
the want of a more complete examination, to afeertain 
whether the fubftance is entirely new to us ; or whether 
it is only the modified appearance of fome compound with 
which we had been before acquainted. 
LAC'COS,/ [Greek.] Among the ancients, a ditch 
er trench ufed inltead of an altar, when facrifices were to 
be offered to the fubterranean or infernal gods. 
DACE,/] facet, -Fr. laqueus, Lat.] A tiring; a cord: 
There the fond fly entangled, ftruggled long, 
Himfelf to free thereout; but all in vain: 
For, ftriving more, the more in laces lirong 
Himfelf he tied, and wrapt his winges twain 
In limy fnares, the fubtil loops among. Spcnfer. 
A fnare; a gin.—-The king had {hared been in love’s ftrong 
hce. Fairfax.—A. plaited ftring, with which women fal¬ 
len their clothes: 
Doll ne’er was call'd to cut her lace , 
Or throw cold water in her face. Swift. 
Ornaments of line threads curioufly woven.—Our Englilh 
dames are much given to the wearing of coftly laces ; and, 
if they be brought from Italy, they are in great elteem. 
'Bacon. —Textures of thread, with gold or fllver : 
He wears a Huff, whofe thread is coarfe and round, 
■But trimm’d with curious lace. Herbert. 
Sugar. A cant word now out of fit 
If haply he the fe£t purfues. 
That read and comment upon news} 
He takes up their myfterious face. 
He drinks his coffee without lace. Prior. 
To LACE, v. a. To fallen with a firing run through 
eyelet holes.—I caufeda fomentation to be made, and put 
on a laced lock, by which the weak parts were ftrehgthened. 
Wifiman ; 
Thefe glitt’ring fpoils, now made the vigor’s gain. 
He to his body fuits; but luits in vain : 
Me flap us’ helm he finds among the reft. 
And laces on, and wears the waving creft. Dryden. 
To adorn with gold or filver textures fewed on.—It is 
but a night-gown in refpect of yours; cloth of gold and 
coats, and lac'd with filver. Shakefpeare. —To embellilh 
with variegations: 
Then clap four flices of pilafter on’t, 
That, lac'd with bits of ruftic, makes a front. Pope. 
To beat; [whether from the form which L’Eftrange ufes, 
or by corruption of lafif —Go you, and find me out a man 
that has no curiofity at all, or I’ll lace your coat for ye. 
L'EJirange. 
Laced Mutton. An old word for a whore.—Ay, fir, 
I, aloft mutton, gave your letter to her, a lac’d mutton , and 
flie gave me nothing for my labour. Shakefpeare. 
LACE-BAR'K. See Daphne lagetto, vol. v. 
LACE-MAKER,/! One who is employed in making 
LA'CE-MAKING,/ Lace, for ornamenting clothes, 
is formed of thread, cotton, or filk, woven into a net, 
the melhes of which are varied in their figure, according 
to the defign of the pattern, as oftagons, hexagons, &c. 
&c. The" lace is alfo ornamented by a thread, much 
thicker than the thread forming the net, which is woven 
in among the melhes, in the figure of flowers, and other 
fantaftic curves; upon the beauty and elegance of which, 
the value of the lace depends. This thick thread is called 
■the gimp. 
Lace is made upon a pillow or cufluon, upon which a 
piece of ftiff parchment is Itretched, having a number of 
LAC 
holes pricked through it, to form a pattern of the intended 
lace. Through thefe holes, pins are lluck into the pillow; 
and the threads, wound upon fmall bobbins, are woven 
around the pins, and twilled round each other in various 
ways, to form the required pattern. This procefs is ex¬ 
tremely tedious, particularly for the wide laces with com¬ 
plicated patterns; and, though it is extremely expenlive 
to the confumer, the people (chiefly in Bedford and Buck- 
inghamlhire) who manufacture it can only obtain fufficient 
to fupport a wretched exiftence, by the moll inceflknt 
exertion. 
Of late years, the manufacturers of Nottingham have 
directed their ingenuity to imitate this fpscies of lace by 
machinery, in which they have fucceeded moll perfectly ; 
but ltill it is only an imitation, the knot or loop of the 
melhes being eflentially different. In the pillow-lace, the 
net or melhes may be deferibed by fuppofing a number 
of ropes, each formed of two or more threads twilled 
round each other; thefe are extended parallel; but, at 
every two or three fpiral turns of thefe ropes, the ftranda 
or threads compofing one rope are twitted around with 
thole of its neighbour, and then return to be twilled with 
its own ; and this reciprocally of the whole number forms 
a netting; the figure of the melhes depending upon the 
number of turns which are made, before the twill is 
changed from one rope to the next. To form a lace'of 
this defeription, it is effential that the ends of each thread 
be detached, and capable of being twilled over the adja¬ 
cent threads. This is ealily done by the hand upon the 
pillow, by twilling the bobbins round each other; but has 
many difficulties which prevent its performance by machi¬ 
nery. The Nottingham lace is only a modification of the 
flitch or loop of which ftockings are made; all the melhes 
being formed by a continuance of one thread, which is, 
by the machine, formed into loops a whole courfe (that is, 
the length of the intended piece of lace) at once, by prelf- 
ing it down alternately over and under between a number 
of parallel needles ; a fecond courfe is then made of fimi- 
lar loops on the.fame needles, and the loops of the fil'd 
are drawn through thofe of the fecond, in fuch a manner 
as to form melhes by retaining the firft loops ; the fecond 
are then retained by a third courfe, and this by a fourth, 
and fo on. The machine is very nearly like a common 
ftocking-frame, but provided with an additional appara¬ 
tus, which can be readily applied. It confiflsof a frame, 
containing a number of needles which we will call points ; 
thefe are introduced between the fixed needles of the ilock- 
ing-frame, and a certain number (one half, for inftance) 
of the loops in the thread are taken off the fixed needles 
upon thefe points, which are moved endways, the lpace 
of two, three, or more, fixed needles, and put down upon 
them again. Another fet of loops is now taken upon the 
points, and moved in the oppofite direction; by this 
means, eroding the loops over each other, and forming 
melhes, the figure of which will depend upon the number 
of needles it is thus carried over. But, as this admits of 
no great variety of patterns, another machine has been 
invented, which is much more extended in its applica¬ 
tion. Like the former, it has the parts of the ftocking- 
frame, but differently made. The thread is, in this, roll¬ 
ed upon a cylinder, in the fame manner as a weaver’s beam ; 
as many threads being wound round it as there are needles 
in the frame. Thefe threads pafs through eyes in the ends 
of fmall points, called guides, which are oppofite the 
needles; and thefe guides are fixed on two bars, each of 
which has half the guides fattened in it, that is, one guide 
is fall in one bar, and the next in the other, and fo on al¬ 
ternately of the whole. Each of the guides prefents a 
thread to its needle, and are all at once moved by the 
hand to twill the threads two or three times round the 
needles which are oppofite them ; the loop is now made 
in a manner fimilar to the other frame. The next time, 
the alternate guides are fliifted endways, fo as to apply 
themfelv.es to other needles than thofe they were oppofite 
before. This croiles the thread, £o as to make a net; but 
i - the 
