THE WEAVER.

Weaving is the making threads into cloth.

This art is of very ancient origin. The fabulous story of Penelope;s web, and still more, the freqaeot allusions to this art in the
Sacred Writings, tend to shew, that the constructing of cloth from thread, hair, &c. is a very ancient invention. It has. however, like other useful arts, undergone au infinite variety of improvements, both as to the materials of which cloth is made, the apparatus necessary in its construction, and the pparticular modes of operation by the artist.

The arts of spinning, throwing and weaving silk, were brought into England about the middle of the fifteenth century, and were
practised by a company of women iu London, called Silk-womeu. About 1480, men began to engage in the silk manufacture and the art of silk-weaving in England soon arrived at very great perfection. It has been generally supposed, however, that silk-weaving, and particularly that of figure-weaving, has never been brought to that perfection in England to which it has attained in other countries.

The art of cotton weaving in its present improved state, has not been long known, either in this or any other country. Where ever it originated, it is certain that most of our manufactures in this respect are unequalled in any part of the known world.

The art of weaving wool is, of course, anterior to both the forementioned, and was, in all probability, the art which was first learned
relative to clothing the human body, and doubtless, superseded the use of skins.

The Weaver sits at his work, and makes use of his feet as well as his hands. Weaving is a very extensive trade, and is divided into a number of different branches, such as the broad and narrow weavers. The broad-weaver is employed in stuffs, broad-cloths, woollen goods, &c. ; the narrow- weaver in ribbons, tapes, and such other things: and there are engine looms for making some of those narrow goods, by which ten or twelve pieces can be made at once ; but goods made in this way are generally not so good as those made by hand, because it is not possible to find thread in every part equal ; but the engines give an equal pressure upon all threads, while the workman, weaving by the hand, increases or diminishes the strength of his pull according to the quality of the thread, and by that method conceals all difference in the warp.

Linen and woollen cloth are both woven the same way ; the one from thread, and the other from worsted. So also is silk, which,
when taken from the silk-worm and wound is called floss silk, and afterwards spun into sewing silk.

The loom is a machine by which several distinct threads of any kind are woven into one piece. They are of various structures,
according to the several kinds of materials to be woven, and to the methods of weaving them. The other principal things to be noticed are, the warp, the woof and the shuttle.

The warp is the threads, whether of silk, wool, linen, or cotton, that are extended lengthwise on the loom.

The woof is the thread which the weaver shoots across the warp, by means of a little instrument, called a shuttle.

The shuttle serves to form the woof, by being thrown alternately from right to left, and from left to right, across and between the
threads of the warp. In the middle, of the shuttle is a cavity, called the eye, or chamber, and in this is enclosed the spole, or bobbin,
on which the thread, or part of it, is wound.

The ribbon-weaver's shuttle is different from that of most other weavers, although it serves for the same purpose. It is made of box, and is six or seven inches long, shod with iron at both ends, which terminate in points that are crooked, one towards the right, the other towards the left.

In the front of the plate stands the reel, by means of which the thread is wound on the bobbins that lie in the wooden bowl ready
for the weaver as he wants them. The thread for the warp is wound on a kind of large wooden bobbin to dispose it for warping.

When the warp is mounted, the weaver treads alternately on the treadle, first on the right step, and then on the left, which raises and lowers the threads of the warp equally ; between these he throws transversely the shuttle from one to the other ; and every time that the shuttle is thus thrown, a thread of the woof is inserted in the warp. In this manner the work is continued till the piece is finished, that is, till the whole warp is filled with the woof; it is then taken off the loom, by unrolling it from the beam, on which it had been rolled in proportion as it was woven'

To give woollen stuff' the necessary qualities, it is required that the thread of the warp be of the same kind of wool, and of the same fineness throughout.

The woof is of different matter according to the piece to be made. In taffety, both woof and warp are of silk. In mohairs, the woof is usually flax, and the warp silk. In satins, the warp is frequently wool, and the woof silk.

The common weaver requires but little ingenuity in carrying on his business ; but weavers of flowered silks, damasks, velvets, &c.
ought to be persons possessed of a considerable capacity : it is an advantage to them if they are able to draw and design their own
patterns.

The silk-throwster prepares, by means of a mill, the raw-silk for the use of the weaver; he employs women chiefly. Spinning the
hard silk and winding it, employ a great number of hands of almost all ages.

Jonrneymen weaven can, while in constant employ, make a good liring. They will earn a guinea and a half or two gnineas a week, according to the substance on which they are employed, It is a business that requires no great degree of strength, and a lad may be
bound apprentice to it at twelve or thirteen years of age. Among weavers are found men of a thoughtful and literary turn. One of
the first rnathematicians of this country was Mr. Thomas Simpson, an industrious weaver in Spitalfields,