HISTORY OF THE WOOLLEN TRADE, &c. INTRODUCTION. ON ANCIENT MANUFACTURES AND COMMERCE. Earliest mention of Wool-Earliest Manufacture-Earliest Clothing-Coats of Skin, Tunic, Simla.-Warp and Woof.-Woollen and Linen Manufacture. -Advance in Manufactures and Arts.-Tents of Goats' Hair.- Variety of Colour.-Dyeing: the words " of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet," mean Woollens of these Colours.-The Breed of Sheep-the fat-tailed Sheep, description of Dean Prideaux's Account of the trade of Tyre-Ancient Commerce of the East-the Trade of Kings David and Solomon with Ophir and Tarshish; the immense wealth derived from them-The History of the Trade to the present Time-Palmyra, its Trade.-Silk-Professor Millar's Account of the Trade of the Continent, and the Introduction and Establishment of the Woollen Manufacture in Great Britain. As a proper introduction to this work, it may be interesting to trace the earliest mention of wool and woollens, as well as other manufactures, and their connection with ancient commerce; and for this purpose the compiler will extract various passages from Scripture, from Prideaux's Connection of the Old and New Testament, and from Millar's Historical View of the English Government, which will bring their history to the period when Smith's Memoir of Wool was written. In order to explain the various texts in Scripture, the compiler consulted Professor Hurwitz, one of the most learned men, and considered to be one of the best Hebrew scholars of the present age, who has most kindly, at that request, given much information; and considerable light has also been thrown upon the subject by Mr. Charles Fellows's recent discoveries in Lycia, and from information which he has also kindly communicated. With respect to manufactures, Professor Hurwitz writes: "There can be no doubt that manufactures and the arts must have attained a high degree of perfection at the time when Moses wrote; and that many of them were known long before that period, we have the evidence of Scripture. It is true that inventions were at first few, and their progress very slow, but they were suited to the then condition and circumstances of man, as is evident even in the art of clothing. Placed in the salubrious and mild air of paradise, our first parents could hardly want any other covering than what decency required. Accordingly we find that the first and only article of dress was the nan chagora, the belt. (not aprons, as in the established version). The materials of which it was made were fig leaves; (Gen. iii. 7.) the same tree that afforded them food and shelter, furnished them likewise with materials for covering their bodies. But when in consequence of their transgressions they were to be ejected from their blissful abode, and forced to dwell in less favourable regions, a more substantial covering became necessary, their merciful Creator made them (i. e. inspired them with the thoughts of making for themselves) y un coats of skins. (Gen. iii. 21.) The original word is non c'thoneth, whence the Greek Tw the tunic, a close garment that was usually worn next the skin, it reached to the knees, and had sleeves (in after times it was made either of wool or linen.) After man had subdued the sheep (Hebrew w caves from w to subdue) and learned how to make use of its wool, we find a new article of dress, namely the no simla, an upper garment: it consisted of a piece of cloth about six yards long and two or three wide, in shape not unlike our blankets. This will explain Gen ix. 23, And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father.' It served as a dress by day, as a bed by night, (Exod. xxii. 26,) If thou at all take thy neighbour's raiment to pledge, thou shalt deliver it unto him by that the sun goeth down; for that is his covering only; it is his raiment for his skin: wherein shall he sleep?' And sometimes burdens were carried in it, (Exod. xii. 34,) And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading-troughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders.' 6 "In the course of time various other garments came into use, as mentioned in several parts of Scripture. The materials of which these garments were usually made are specified in Leviticus xiii. 47-59, The garment also that the plague of the leprosy is in, whether it be a woollen garment or a linen garment: whether it be in the warp or woof, of linen or of woollen; whether in a skin, or in anything made of skin,' &c." So far the woollen and linen manufacture, and weaving, are distinctly mentioned at that early period: other branches are also named, as well as the progress in arts, the comforts of life, the nature of trade, and the employment of coin: Gen. iv. 17. And he (Cain) builded a city. 20. And Adah bare Jabel: he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle. 21. And his brother's name was Jubal: he was the father of such as handle the harp and the organ. 22. And Zillah, she also bare Tubalcain, an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron. Gen. vi. 14. Make thee an ark of gopher wood, rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. 15. And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: the length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. 16. A window shalt thou make in the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above, and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, and second, and third stories shalt thou make it. Gen. ix. 20. And Noah began to be a husbandman, and he planted Gen. xi. a vineyard. 3. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make Gen. xiv. 23. That I will not take from a thread even to a shoe latchet. Gen. xvii. 23. And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with money. Gen. xxiii. 15. My lord, hearken unto me: the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver: what is that betwixt thee and me? bury, therefore, thy dead. 16. And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron, and Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver, which he had named in the audience of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchant. Gen. xxiv. 22. And it came to pass, as the camels had done drinking, that the man took a gold ear-ring, of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands, of ten shekels weight of gold. The above texts show the great progress in luxury and refinement, the advancement in living, from tents to the building of cities and towers. It appears clear that the tents were made of goats' hair, and that the tents of the present day are made of the same material. The Chevalier d'Arvieux, who published an account of his travels in the East, in the early part of last century, thus describes the Arabian shepherds :-"These Arabs have no other lodging than their tents, which they call houses; they are all black, of goats' hair canvass, and are stretched out in such a manner that the rain easily runs off, without ever going through them. The tent of the Emir is of the same stuff, and differs only from those of his subjects in bigness." Mr. Fellows writes (Lycia):-" Bienden, the place of our destination for the evening, was still distant seven hours. About five miles on the way the tract lay through several Turkish burial grounds, each containing remains of ancient sculpture, marble columns, cornices, and square stones: upon one was an inscription, which could not have been moved from its original site. Its first intention may have been to commemorate the course of a great conqueror : at present, it marks the grave of some unknown Yourook, or herdsman, whose race occupy the black goats' hair tents, scattered over the widely extended plain." Mr. Fellows describes the goats' hair as very long, from eight to twelve inches, and very thick; well adapted to make tents for such a country. The goats must be very numerous. He says (Lycia, Delta of the Xanthus) :-" Around were |