CAM BR IC, one of the finest and most dense species of the cloth manufacture. The I 'rench rambrie, although its importation into this country be prohil,i.t d by law, i held in the greatest estimation. Cambries, in imitation of the French, are also manufactm•ed in Ireland; and tl encouragement of this manufacture, 'along who (Alit r political causes, probably induced the legi.datn•e to ho pose the prohibition. The cambric used, which is the measure of fineness in every species of cloth, ealen1. ted upon a different scale from those used in th • l'ne manufacttn•es of this country and Irchutd. The St on and Irish reeds are computed according to the nonibt of hundreds of splits or divisions which tin y cont in in 17 incites, that being the measure of the Scotch ell ; Cie Dutch reeds for Holland cloth, arc reckoned by the num ber contained in 40 inches ; and the French cambric reed by the number contained in 34 inches. In Lancashire and Cheshire, the mode of computation is emit e') (litre rent ; and even those counties, although contiguous, diC fer as much from each other as they do from the Scot, I., the Dutch, and the French. The small table annexed to this article, exhibits a comparative m kw of Ow Scot tish linen, with the French cambric reed, by using y. hich, the one standard may be reduced to its nearest equie :t ient measure on the other at a single glance. • The city of Cambray, and the adjacent districts of le hat w ere for merly denominated the French NVe re for merly the scat of this manufacture. I low far it Inn; suf feredby the vicissitudes of re% ion nnd the s of war, we have no accurate means of asc•rta TI e texture of cambi is being reinat kuble, b ith fn. its fine ness and its closeness, the excellence of the manufacture must depend in it much greater degree ill on the quality of the raw material, titan upon the skill or de:;t t ity of the artizan ; and rich as the soil of Ireland is acknow ledged to be, this single cause presents a ph): ical ob struction to their rivalling the French in I. ,pc of manufacture, unsurmountable by any int ention w hich human ingenuity can devise. or by any exertion of 'about
which human industry can produce. \\ here nature has denied the requisites, industry in:IV be d and ingenuity misapplied ; but the object hce in will or can be attained. In the opt ration of w cam 111;7, there is it( thing particular. It is merely very fine plain cloth, of a stout fabric, and is now I cry successfully imitated in cotton, although the softness of the cotton fibres will ren der it impossible that it should ever rim al the Ilax in that glossy smoothness for which it is chiefly admired. From these circumstances, it seems in to expect that the cambric manufacture can (ner be attempted, with an rational probability of success, in ..11). part of the British dominions.
The measure of the cambric reed is the number of divisions contained in 34 inches ; that of the linen reed in 37 inches ; and that of the holland reed in 40 inches. The linen reed is therefore counted by hundreds, as is the practice in this country ; and in the respective co lumns for the cambric and holland, are placed the num bers of their reeds, which would exactly correspond in fineness with each linen reed, and consequently with each other. Thus, in the first line, a cambric reed of 1378 divisions is equal in fineness to a linen reed of 1500 divisions, and also to a holland reed of 1622 divisions.
Ninety-two divisions on the cambric scale corre spond with 100 on the linen and 108 on the holland scale.
The finer kinds may be found by the common rule of simple proportion, as 37 is to 34, so is the linen reed to the cambric. In the bleaching and dressing of earn brics, much of their marketable appearance consists. In those bleaching grounds or fields where this branch of the business is carried on, it is necessary, in order that it may be properly done, to use a considerable variety of machinery applicable to the particular purpose, but of which the minute description does not properly be long to this article. (3. D.)