WOOL. 
724 
pound; the price of that most generally used was about 4 
livres 10 sous per pound. The silks used in silk camelots, 
&c. were obtained from Paris and Lyons. 
The following table gives the quantity and value of wool 
yarns and worsted pieces in Picardy; but he supposes the 
quantity to be under the real amount, the manufacturers con¬ 
cealing the extent of their trade to avoid arbitrary taxation. 
Wool consumed in the Worsted Manufactures of Picardy. 
sous. livres. 
French wool 3200000 at 22 3520000 
Dutch ditto 180000 at 40 360000 
English ditto 200000 at 32 320000 
German ditto 100000 at 22 110000 
3680000 4310000 
Yarn imported. 
liv. s. 
Yarn of Turcoign 60000 at 8 10 510000 
German yarn - 100000 at 7 0 700000 
Levant yarn, or > 2 20000 at 5 10 1210000 
mohair - $ 
Silk used in fine \ 20000 at 35 Q 700000 
worsted goods $ ___ 
Total value of wool and yarn - - 7430000 
Combing and spinning 3680000 lbs. of wool 4310000 
Winding, warping, and weaving - - 4770000 
Dyeing of yarn and pieces ... 190000 
Profit of the wool-dealers, manufacturers - 1300000 
Total value of 150000 pieces coming from £ ^8000000 
the manufacturer - - - - $ 
Value of dyeing-wares ... 500000 
To which carriage and profit of the mer-\ 2 000000 
chant and draper - - - - J 
Total value of worsted goods in Picardy 20500000 
One million and fifty thousand pounds weight of wool 
were also consumed in hosiery in the same province, of 
which the greatest part was native; and the remainder about 
two hundred and fifty thousand pounds weight from Hol¬ 
land. The number of working manufacturers in Picardy is 
thus stated: 
50000 men who gain 140 livres per annum 7000000 
50000 women 70 3500000 
150000 children 40 6000000 
The greater part of the manufacturers resided in the coun¬ 
try, and were employed part of the time in agriculture; this 
was also the case with the manufacturers in the towns, so that 
not more than eight months in the year were devoted to 
manufactures. This change of employment, so conducive 
to the health and comfort of the labouring classes, may be 
regarded as presenting the happiest form under which manu¬ 
factures can be carried on. This was also in a considerable 
degiee the situation of the woollen and worsted manufactures 
in Yorkshire, before the late introduction of machinery had 
driven the population into large factories; a change which 
may be regarded as one of the greatest evils that ever afflicted 
civilized society, tending directly to degrade and enfeeble 
the human race, and to render man a wretched machine, a 
prisoner from the cradle to the workhouse or the grave, devoid 
of moral feeling and physical energy. 
What was the extent of the worsted manufacture in the 
other provinces of France where it was carried on, we have 
no correct means of ascertaining. In the middle of the last 
century, the export of cloths and worsted goods from Lan¬ 
guedoc alone amounted annually to about 60,000 pieces, 
sent to the Levant and to Barbary. At that time also, Spain, 
and all the countries bordering the Mediterranean, received 
worsted goods from France. In the variety of worsted 
articles, in the ingenuity of the patterns, and the superi¬ 
ority of the workmanship, as well as of the dyes, France 
may be regarded as having surpassed any other nation 
in Europe, prior to the year 1780, or about the close of 
the American revolution. Since that period, the manufac¬ 
tures of England have astonishingly increased, and have 
obtained a decided preference in foreign markets. 
The woollen manufactures of Saxony and Germany have 
been long established; the fugitives from the edict of Nantz 
contributed much to improve and extend them. During the 
late war all the manufactures in Germany and every part of 
the European continent suffered greatly, but are at present 
rapidly reviving, and will abridge the amount of our exports 
in Europe. 
In Russia, Sweden, and Denmark, the woollen manufac¬ 
ture, as a distinct occupation, is comparatively new ; yet it 
has existed long enough to produce great alteration in their 
flocks. And as this change was attempted in a more en¬ 
lightened period, and conducted by scientific men, the best 
means were adapted to promote the improvement, and new 
breeds of sheep have been introduced into both countries. 
The same remark applies to Saxony and other circles of the 
German states, and even Hungarian flocks are not without 
evident indication of a change for the better. 
Of the worsted manufacture as distinct from the woollen, 
we have little information respecting its origin. It com¬ 
prises all those goods made of combed wool, in distinction 
from carded wool. We are unacquainted with the period 
when the wool-comb was invented, or when worsted goods 
were first manufactured. It is probable, that worsted goods 
were originally woven in the East, and that the knowledge 
of them was brought into Europe either by the Armenian 
merchants, or those who returned from the extravagant ex¬ 
peditions which were undertaken for the recovery of the 
Holy Land from the dominion of the infidels. The garments 
which are now worn by the Turks, some of which seem to 
have been produced by means of the comb, the incidental 
mention of that instrument in an account which we have of 
Angora, and the demand for worsted goods through the 
Levant, confirm the conjecture, and lead us to suppose, 
that there exist very considerable manufactures of this kind 
in the Turkish empire, although we know little more of its 
domestic and rural condition, than can be obtained from the 
most vague accounts and uncertain deductions. After the 
art of spinning worsted yarn was known in the west of Eu¬ 
rope, the looms of the Netherlands became active in convert¬ 
ing it into those peculiar kinds of goods to which it was 
adapted, and it seems as though the distinction between these 
and woollen articles was not generally noticed until some 
years afterwards. It might have been expected from the 
nature of the article, that the manufacture of worsted goods 
should in many southern countries have preceded that of 
cloth. Long-stapled wool suited to the comb seems more 
spontaneously the produce of uncultivated sheep, than short 
wool, which is to be manufactured by carding, and its mode 
of manufacture more nearly resembles that of flax ; hence it 
is not improbable, that worsted goods were made in Egypt 
and the East before the manufacture of woollen cloth. This 
is, however, uncertain. 
In the manufacture of long wool, the fibres are arranged 
parallel to each other, like those of flax; but before they are 
spun, they require to be laid even by some kind of instru¬ 
ment, which shall separate the fibres, that they may draw 
out easily in spinning. A comb of a very simple construc¬ 
tion, with a few wires for the teeth, was probably first made 
use of. It was afterwards found, that the application of heat 
to the comb contributed more effectually to the regular 
arrangement of the fibres; and thus the invention ot the 
common wool-comb arose, but at what period is unknown. 
Vulgar tradition ascribes the invention to bishop Blaize, who 
first used it in Alderney; but there does not appear any au¬ 
thority in support of this opinion. The bishop lived in 
Armenia, and was raised to the episcopal dignity about the 
time of Dioclesian, and suffered martyrdom under that tyrant. 
Before he was beheaded, he was tortured with iron combs, 
with which his flesh was torn; and hence when an-instru¬ 
ment of that kind was brought into common use, the work¬ 
men 
