THE CARPET-WEAVER.

Carpet, in the manufacture of cloth, is a species of woollen-stufF, made of variegated colours, and used for the floor-cloths of rooms. The manufacture of Carpets we may reasonably conclude originated in Asia, from whence most of our knowledge of the manufacture of cloths of almost every description, appears to have been derived ; and to this day the finest and most expensive of the ornamental kinds are distinguished by the name of Turkey Carpets. They are now, and have long been, manufactured both in France and Italy ; and those used in Great Britain of internal manufacture, are equal both in fabric and design to any imported. In England they are generally called Wilton Carpets, from the county which is the chief seat of that and the other finer branches of the woollen manufacture. Some manufactories are, and have long been established in Scotlaud, of which Stirling and Kilmarnoch, are the chief seats, but they are generally confined to the coarser and low-priced kind.

Carpeting possesses this peculiar property different from almost every other kind of cloth, that it contains two "distinct webs woven at the same time, and firmly joined together by the operation : hence arises the common effect that on the two sides of a carpet, the form of the pattern is the same, but all the colours are reversed.

.The Carpet-loom consists principally of four pieces, two long planks at top, and the other at bottom, about a foot or more distant from the ground. They are suspended on the planks, and may be turned with bars. In each roller is a groove from one end to the other, in which the ends of the warp are so fastened that all the threads of it are kept perpendicular.

The warp is divided both before and behind into parcels of ten threads, through the whole width of the piece. The Weaver works on the foreside. The design, or pattern, is traced in its proper colours on cartons, a kind of pasteboard, tied about the workman, who looks at it every moment, because every stitch is marked upon it, which it is his business to imitate. By these means be always knows what colours and shades he is to use, and how many stitches of the same colour. To accomplish this, he is assisted by squares, into which the whole design is divided : each square is subdivided into ten vertical lines, corresponding with the parcels of ten threads of the warp ; and besides, each square is ruled with ten horizontal lines, crossing the vertical lines at right angles. The workman having placed hbis spindles of thread near him, begins to work the first horizontal line of one of the squares.

The lines marked on the carton, are not traced oc the warp, because an iron wire, which is longer than the width of a parcel of ten threads, supplies the place of a cross line. This wire is managed by a crook at one end, at the workman's right hand ; towards the other end it is flatted into a sort of knife, with a back and edge, and grows wider to the point. The weaver fixes his iron wire horizontally on the warp, by twisting some turns of. a suitable thread of the woof round it, which passes forward and backward behind a fore thread of the warp, and then behind the opposite thread, drawing them in their turn by their leishes.Afterwards he brings the woof-thread round the wire in order to begin again to thrust into the warp. He continues in this manner, to cover the iron rod or wire, and to fill up a line to the tenth thread of the warp. He is at liberty either to, stop here, or to go on with the same cross line in the next division, according as he passes the thread of the woof round the iron wire and into the warp, the threads of which he causes to cross one another at every instant; when he comes to the end of the line, he takes care to strike in, or close again all the stitches with an iron reed, the teeth of which freely enter between the empty threads of the warp, and which is heavy enough to strike in the woof he has used. This row of stitches is again closed and levelled, and in the same manner the weaver proceeds ; then with his left hand he lays a strong pair of shears along the finished line, cuts off the loose hairs, and thus forms a row of tufts perfectly even, which, together with those before and after it, form 'the "shag". Thus the workman follows stitch for stitch, and colour for colour, the plan of his pattern, which he is attempting to imitate ; he paints magnificently without having the least notion of painting or drawing.

The manufacture of Carpets after the manner of Chaillot, was introduced into London in the year 1750, by two workmen, who left the manufactory in disgust, and came here to procure employment. They were first encouraged by Mr. Moore, who succeeded in establishing this important and useful manufacture, and who, in the year 1757 obtained a premium from the Society of Arts, for the best Carpet in imitation of the Turkey Carpets. We have Carpet manufactories, besides those before mentioned, at Axminster, Kidderminster, Leeds, and many other places.

Axm inster Carpets are manufactured of any size ; they are woven in one entire piece, and several persons are employed at the same time in working the coloured patterns.

Another sort of Carpet in use, is made of narrow slips of list sewed together; these of course are very inferior to those just described, but they employ many women and children, A considerable trade in list carpets is carried on at the Orphan working school in the City Road, an institution that does honour to the liberality and public spirit of the Dissenters in and near the metropolis.

This is a good business for the masters and journeymen ; and now Carpets are become of such general use, a great number of people are employed in their manufacture.