THE CURRIER.

The business of the Currier is to prepare hides which have been under the hands of the tanner, for the use of shoe-makers, coach
makers, saddlers, bookbinders, &c.

The Currier derives his name from Coriarius, a worker in leather ; and for the antiquity of the trade, although not the modern art
of currying the reader may be referred to the seventeenth book of Horner's Iliad, line four hundred and fifty.

The use of skins is very ancient, the first garments. in the world having been made of them. Moroccos are made of the skins of a
kind of goats. Parchment is made of sheepskins. The true chamois leather is made of the skin of an animal of the same name, though it is frequently counterfeited with common goats' and sheeps'skin.

The Curriers have been an incorporated company ever since the beginning of the reign of James the First : during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, history records an account of a fierce contention between the Curriers and Shoe-Makers, respecting the dressing of leather, and the price to be paid them for their work ; and, also, respecting the places in which leather should be sold. At length it as stipulated, in the year 1590, among other articles, that the Curriers should have dressing of all the leather, brought into Leadenhall and Southwark markets, and within three miles of London.

Currying is the last preparation of leather, and puts it into a condition to be made up into shoes, saddles, harness, &c. it is performed in two ways, either upon the flesh or the grain.

In dressing leather for shoes, on the flesh, the first operation is soaking the leather in water till it be thoroughly wet ; then the flesh side is shaved on a board, called a beam-board ; that is a piece of lignum-vitae about two feet long, two inches thick, and six
inches wide, placed on a wooden block fixed on the ground, to which the Currier stands at his work, with a knife which has two edges, the blade is rectangular, about twelve inches long, and from four to six inches wide, and varying in size and weight according to the work to be performed ; one end has a straight, the other a cross handle, in the plane of the knife. It is brought to a wire edge by rubbing on a stone of a coarse grit, which is afterwards taken off, and a finer edge produced by a finer and softer stone. The cross handle of the knife is then firmly fixed between the workman's knees, and while in a kneeling posture, he turns the edges to an angle with their former position, by means of a polished steel, similar in shape to a butcher's steel. They are kept in order chiefly by a smaller steel, which the man holds constantly between his fingers, and passes along the knives, the point within, and the side without the groove, formed by the turned edge, as occasion requires; and as often as the edges are worn, they are renewed in the same way.

Beam-boards are imported, sawed into the size and shape in which the Curriers use them. The name of Cox, of Gloucester, is known throughout Europe as the principal maker of Curriers' knives. Lane, of Cirencester, is also an approved maker ; a patent has lately been obtained by Mr. Bingley, of Birmingham, for an improvement in the manufacture of their knives ; but they have not been sufficiently tried, to enable us to decide on the merits of the improvement : from what we have seen, they are, however, certainty well worth the masters' attention.

Having thus prepared the knife, the wet skin is thrown over the beam with the flesh side outwards, and the man keeps it in its
position, by the pressure of his knees as he leans over the beam. The knife is then applied, horizontally, to the leather, and by re-
peated strokes downwards, it is reduced to the substance required.

After the leather is properly shaved, it is thrown into water again, and scoured upon a board or stone appropriated to the use. Scouring is performed by rubbing the grain or hair side with a piece of pumice-stone, or some other stone of a good grit, by which means a white sort of substance is forced out of the leather, called the bloom, produced in the operation of tanning. The hide is then conveyed to the shade, or drying-place, when the oily substances are applied, which are put on botn sides of the leather, but in a
greater and thicker quantity on the flesh, than on the hair side. Thus far is the process of currying in its wet state, and thus far it is
called gettthg out.

When the skin is quite dry, it undergoes other operations, for the purpose of softening the leather. Whitening or paring, succeeds,
which is performed with a fine edge on the knife already described. It is then boarded up or grained again, by applying the graining-board first to the grain, and then to the flesh side.

It is now fit for waxing, which is performed by rubbing it with a brush, dipped in a composition of oil and lamp-black, on the flesh
side, till it be thoroughly black : it is then sized, called black sizing, with a brush or sponge, dried and tallowed. After undergoing,
some other operations, this sort of leather, called waxed leather, is curried.

For leather curried on the hair side, termed black on the grain, the first operation is the same as that already described, till it is
scoured. Then the black, which is a solution of copperas in bark liquor, is applied to it while wet : this is first put upon the grain,
after it has been rubbed over with a brush dipped in urine; and when it is dry, it is seasoned, that is, rubbed over with a brush'
dipped in copperas water on the grain, till it be perfectly black : after this, the grain is raised with a fine graining-board, and the
leather is oiled with a mixture of oil and tallow, when it is finished, and fit for the shoe-maker.

Hides are sometimes curried for the use of saddlers, and collar-makers, but the principal operations are much the same as those which have been already described. Hides for the roofs of coaches are shaved nearly as thin as those for shoes, and blacked on the grain.

A fact worthy of remark is, that oil is imbibed more uniformly and effectually by wet, than by dry leather, and this most probably
arises from the gradual evaporation of the water, which gives place to the introduction of the oil, by capillary attraction, whereas the
air, if interspersed in the pores, would resist it.

In many places, the business of a Currier connects with it that of the leather-dresser, and leather-cutter, who supplies the shoe-
makers, and others, with all their leather, black, red, blue, green, &c.

Leadenhall Market, in London, is one of the principal marts for leather : and shoe-makers and leather-cutters in the country, who command the capital, buy the greater part of their goods, particularly their sole or butt leather, there.

The Indian women, in Carolina and Virginia, dress buck and doe-skin with a considerable degree of skill ; and so quick, that a single woman will completely dress eight or ten skins a day.

Carriers exercise their trade under a license from the Board of Excise, which they take out annually, and they are obliged to specify
in the entry, every room in which leather is deposited, as well as the vats and tubs in which it is soaked. Their premises are, of
course, subject to the inspection of Excise Officers, and any hide not having the tanners' duty-mark, is liable to seizure.

No Currier can use the trade of a butcher, tanner, &c. nor shall he curry skins insuffciently tanned, nor gash hides, or leather, on
pain of forfeiting for every hide or skin, 6s.8d. Curriers not currying the leather sufficiently; shall forfeit the ware or the value, &c. I Jac. c. 22. If Curriers do not curry leather, sent to them within sixteen days, between michaelmas and lady-day, and in eight days at other times, they are liable to a forfeiture of 61, 12 Geo. II. c. 25.