202 
proved Enslith machinery introduced ; 
three principal articles of merchandife are 
fent from France to the Leipzig-fair, viz. 
filks, jaces, and fafhionablearticles of drefs 
and decoration: ‘The fale of French filks 
was again fo great, that in a few days the 
ware rooms of the principal dealers were 
emptied. Initead of the ftriped filk ftuffs, 
which at the Michaelmas-fair were fo 
eagerly bought up fortheNorthern markets, 
the plain forts were declared to be the 
order of the day by the ever. changeable 
humour of Fafhion. The great dernand, 
and the unfavourablenefS of the anther 
forthe filk-worms in the fouth of France 
and in Piedmont, raifed the prices greatly 
above what they were the preceding year. 
To thefe caufes of the dearnefs of filks ma ay 
be added, that the wounds infliéted by the 
Revolution on the filk-manufadiurers were 
not yet completély healed ; for, as we are 
informed in the Prefect Verniac’s ‘* Phy- 
fico-pclitical Deleripti ion of the Lepart- 
‘ment ot the Rhone,” the number of lcoms 
jn Lyons amounted, in 1788, to 14,782 
(of which, however, only 9335 were 
worked) ;' but at prefent there are only 
2000 } confequen itly 2335 lefs than at the 
‘before-mentioned period. The merchants, 
however, were not deterred from pur- 
chafing upon fpeculation. Many fingle 
Ruffian dealers fent off packages worth 
more than 100,c00 dollars, one half being 
paid for in ready money, and the other 
obtained upon credit. The importation 
of thefe and other French manufactures 
was now the creater into Ruifia, as in the 
latter years of the reign of Catherine, and 
during the whcle of that of Paul, they had 
been prehibited ; and itis much more ha- 
zardous to attempt imuggling forbidden 
goodsintoRuffiathan into many other coun- 
‘tries. Hence there arofe at length fuch a 
dearth of thele articles, that in Peterfburg, 
Mofcow, and other cities, all the anti- 
quated lumber of the fhops was eagerly 
bought up by the ladies of fafhion. In 
the beokfellers’ fhops the prohibitory 
edi& of Paul produced fimilar effects : 
many a duit-covered volume, which had 
for years lain quietly on the fhelf, was, for 
want of meye paletabie food, eagerly de- 
voured by the famithed literati. Only 
© one Mefcow merchant had forgotten to 
appear at the fair, and make up his pay- 
ments. This was the only cafe of info! - 
vency which made any noife; except fome 
that occurred among the hdoctelleis. But, 
‘from the great extent of credit given to 
the dealers trom the North, and from the 
great quantity of goods that have teea 
poured into Poland and Ruffia, it may be 
Account of the Leipzig Commercial-fatr. 
{ O&ober ty | 
apprehended that this one will foon be in- 
creafed to a fcore. The finer kinds of 
lace, points, &c. were above twenty per 
cent. dearer than lait year. It was fortu- 
nate for the numerous dealers, who had 
come from France and the Netherlands, 
that the people of furtune and diltinétion 
are fond of wearing lace-veil, and the 
like articles of drefs, as, from the great 
expence, they cannot herein eafily be fo 
aped by their mferiors. The coarfer forts 
of lace, the manulacture of which pro- 
cures bread to hundreds of poor women 
ard childr:n in Saxony and Bohemia, the 
Duchy of Berg, and other parts of Ger- 
many, likewife found a favourable mar- 
ket, wae the merchants who brought them 
on {pecula'ion to Leipzig had no reafon to 
bediflatisfied with their journey to the fair. 
Of the Englith fiik-blond laces confider- 
able quantities were bought to be fent to 
Pah and France, where the milliners ufe 
them for trimming the fafhionable gauze 
and crape drefles. 
Whole caravans of dealers in trinkets, 
fancy-drets-makers, &c. had arrived from 
the banks of the Seine. Their tempi ing 
booths glittered wiih rich aflortments of 
$ éve- porcelaine, jewellery, and little neat 
nick-nackeries, to which the French 
workmen give a tempting elegance and 
fhewy appearance that has nat yet been 
attained by any other nation. Large 
quantities of the French porcelaine-ware, 
penduium clocks in porcelaine cafes, &c. 
were purchafed by the merchants from the 
north: but none was allowed to be uled 
by the fubjetts of the Elector of Saxony, 
who iffued this prohibition for the purpofe 
of encouraging his own manutactory. 
The French Marchandes des Modes tempt- 
ed the German ladies with fo great a va- 
_riety of attraétive drefles, of filks of the 
moft bright and fafhionable colours, and 
fine flowered muflins, that their choice 
was divided between them and the beau- 
tiful Eaglith printed calicees. 
TheGerman merchants again fhewed at 
this fair how little they are a€iuated by that 
national pride which animates the Engliih. 
In many of the beit-fuinifhed ware rooms, 
the productions of the German manufac- 
turers were uoblufhingly called Englifh, 
and, in fome inftances, they even put to 
them the names and inarks of the mof 
diftinguithed Engl fh artifts and manufac- 
turers. In feveral places of Germany 
there are fkilful gold and-Glvesfmiths, pla- 
ters, faddlers, manufacturers of polifhed 
fteel wares, and of ftraw and chip-hats, 
whole productions, nearly equal to thote 
of the Peel, were fold as fuch at very 
high 
