WOOL. 
723 
who, according to Guicciardini, in 1560 sent by land to 
Antwerp some very fine cloths of Paris and Rouen, which 
were highly prized. 
A strong confirmation of the early use of the best Spanish 
wool, unmixed with coarser by the Italian states, is furnished 
by Richelieu’s Political Testament, printed in 1635, in which, 
speaking of the fine woollen manufactures of France, the 
author says, “ the Turks prefer the draps de sceau de Rouen 
to all others, next to those of Venice, which are made of 
Spanish wool.” 
A treaty between France and Spain in 1659, enabled the 
former freely to obtain the wool of the latter, and thus to gain 
great advantage over us in the Levant trade. From the proxi¬ 
mity of France to the woollen manufactures in the north of 
Spain, it might have been expected that the French would 
have earlier engaged in this manufacture; but owing to their 
frequent northern wars, and their attention being directed to 
the manufacture of silk, the French do not appear to have 
commenced the fabrication of woollens for exportation exten¬ 
sively before the 16th century. About this time, France 
made great progress in her manufactures of wool, and in se¬ 
curing the export trade, particularly that to Tartary for 
which she was better situated than Holland or England. 
The nature of her trade to warm climates directed her at¬ 
tention to the fabrication of finer and lighter cloths, than 
those made by her northern neighbours; in consequence of 
which she preserved the greater part of the Turkey trade to 
the period of the French revolution, and in general fine 
French cloths had attained a celebrity for their superiority, 
both in texture and dye, over those of any other country in 
Europe. The native breeds of sheep in France were greatly 
improved by intermixture with sheep imported from Spain. 
With these advantages, France might have nearly secured a 
monopoly of the finer branches of the woollen manufacture, 
had not the absurd policy of her rulers, in the revocation of 
the edict of Nantz, driven the manufacturing Protestants to 
other countries, where they contributed, by their exertion, 
their skill, connections, and capital, to form establishments 
which rivalled those of the country from which they were ex¬ 
pelled. 
Notwithstanding this, as France supplied the greater part 
of her own population of twenty millions with cloth, besides 
her foreign exports, we conceive that the woollens manufac¬ 
tured in that country, before the late revolution, equalled in 
quantity the cloth made in England at the time, and greatly 
exceeded it in value. Under the emperor Napoleon, the best 
Merino flocks were imported in multitudes from Spain, which 
have spread over the country, and are equal to supply ex¬ 
tensively her manufactures of woollens, when they shall be 
again fully established. Considerable quantities of fine wool 
have been imported from France into England since the peace 
of 1815. 
The confusion attendant on a great revolution, continued 
for twenty years, gave so severe a blow to the manufacturing 
establishments of France, that a considerable time must elapse 
before they are completely established. Prior to this revolu¬ 
tion, the superfine cloths of France were superior to those 
of England, in texture, colours, and softness. In the finer 
articles of worsted goods, and in the mixed worsted goods 
made partly with long combing-wool, and partly with silk or 
goat’s wool from the Levant, they surpassed the manufac¬ 
tures of this country; but the manufacturers of the commoner 
kinds of worsted goods, as tammies and shalloons, could 
not rival us in foreign markets for want of a proper supply 
of wool suited to the purpose. The following were the prin¬ 
cipal seats of the superfine and fine woollen manufactures in 
France, arranged according to the different qualities of the 
goods made at each, beginning with the finest: 1. The 
manufactures of Gobelins.—2 .Of Sedan.—3. Of Abbeville. 
—4. Of Louviers.—5. Of Elboeuf.—6. Of Rouen and 
Darnetal. Besides several detached manufacturing establish¬ 
ments of superfine cloth in Languedoc, Champagne, and 
other parts of France. 
At the Gobelins, superfine cloths of the very first quality 
were manufactured; but the manufactures there were con¬ 
fined solely to the broadest white cloth intended to be dyed 
scarlet or purple, and the brightest colours from cochineal. 
Sedan followed next to Gobelins for the beauty of its 
superfine cloths, where they were also made of various 
breadths and colours. 
Abbeville may be placed next after Sedan: some, have 
even supposed that it equalled Sedan in the fineness of its 
cloths; but this arose from the cloths of the latter place being 
of various sorts: the lower kinds were certainly inferior to 
those 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 manufactures of 
Sedan, each manufacturer confined himself to a particular 
kind of cloth, for which he became distinguished, some being 
celebrated for fine, and others for superfine cloths exclusively; 
whereas in Abbeville, Louviers, and the other districts enu¬ 
merated, there were manufacturers who made various sorts, 
and the proportion of the fine to the superfine was greater 
than at Sedan. 
Elboeuf was one of the most ancient seats of the woollen 
manufacture in France, but the quality of the cloths made 
there had greatly degenerated from the years 1760 to 1770; 
but afterwards the manufacturers returned to the former quality 
of their cloths, which were partly made of the fine wools 
from Berry, and partly from fine Spanish wool, or from a 
mixture of Spanish with the best wools of Berry. 
Rouen and Darnetal may be placed in the sixth class of 
manufacturing districts of fine cloth, in which the finest 
wools of France were principally used, mixed with those of 
Spain. 
The establishments for the manufacture of common cloth 
and coarse woollens were much more widely spread over 
France. The goods appear to have been principally con¬ 
sumed in that country to supply the demand of a popula¬ 
tion of twenty millions, and the numerous military establish¬ 
ments, besides what might be sent to the French colonies. 
As the French never exported any considerable quantity 
of common or coarse woollen cloths, the manufactures of 
these articles never equalled in extent those of England. 
The circumstance of the coarse cloth manufacture being so 
widely spread over the country, tended also to prevent that 
degree of rivalry which promotes the spirit of improvement 
where manufactures are more concentrated; add to this, the 
French had not that abundant supply of the coarser cloth¬ 
ing-wools which could enable them to rival us in the export 
of heavy woollen goods. 
The worsted manufactures of France, including serges and 
those goods made with a warp of worsted, were principally 
carried on in four of the provinces of France, but more 
extensively in Picardy than elsewhere. The long combing- 
woois which supplied this manufacture, were partly the pro¬ 
duce of France, and partly imported from Holland, England, 
Flanders, and Germany. M. Rolland, in the French Ency¬ 
clopaedia, describing the French manufactures in the year 
1783, soon after the American war, says, that during that 
war the English administration tacitly encouraged the ex¬ 
portation of wool to promote the interests of agriculture. He 
describes the French combing-wool as being coarser and 
more harsh than the wool of Holland, as wasting much more 
in the manufacture, and making goods of a very inferior- 
quality. The combing-wools of England, though generally 
less sound and fine, and of a less pure white, than those of 
Holland, were particularly well suited to some parts of the 
worsted manufacture. 
The combing-wools from Germany were coarse and harsh, 
and only used in default of other supplies. Very fine worsted 
yarn was also obtained from Saxony and the environs of 
Gottingen ; but this yarn was tender, and required to be mixed 
with worsted yarn from English or Dutch wool. The yarn 
of Turcoign was supposed to be Dutch, but was principally 
from Flanders and Artois. The goat’s wool came from the 
Levant, by way of Marseilles, in bales of from 200 to 300 
lbs. It sold from four livres to twelve livres per French 
pound; 
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