CLODIUS. See CieEno. CLONMACNOISE. See KING'S-COUNTY.
L LoTn is a tcrin in the English language, particularly applied to the woollen manufacture ; but in its more comprehensive and general acceptation, it may be un derstood to signify any substance produced by the inter weaving of animal or vegetable filaments. The cloth made in the islands of the South Sea, from the descrip tions of Captain Cook and other circumnavigators, and from the specimens which have been brought to Europe, appears indeed, in general, to be produced rather by cohesion of the parts than texture ; but this assimilates it more to the ideas which we attach to paper or paste board, than to those which we form of cloth. Almost all the cloth which is known or used in Europe, is com posed either of the animal substances, wool and silk, or of the vegetables, flax and cotton. For some purposes, indeed, hair is spun into thread, and woven into cloth ; and the finer and more ductile metals, gold and silver, are also occasionally spun along with silk, for some of the richer species of ornamental texture.
With the antiquity of weaving we are neither much acquainted, nor, however amusing such knowledge might be to the antiquarian, is this loss greatly to be regretted. That the art was brought to considerable perfection in very early ages, is sufficiently obvious, both from sacred and profane history. There seems also little doubt that it is of Asiatic origin, and has only gradually extended to the western parts of Europe. \ire have the authority of Julius Czsar, that, when he invaded Britain, it was totally unknown ; and the many public acts relative to the woollen manufacture in the earlier period of English history, evidently prove, that the greater part of our wool was, for a very long series of years, exported in a raw state, and manufactured upon the continent. The cruelties and atrocities of the Duke of Alva, in 1567, and the subse quent persecutions attendant on the revocation of the edict of Nantz by Louis XIV. arc assigned, by historians, as the causes which gave to Britain the knowledge and ingenuity of foreign artizans, and permanently founded the woollen and linen manufactures, the former of which has become the acknowledged staple of England, and the latter of Ireland. The much more recent invention of Sir Ri
chard Arkwright, has introduced the very extensive manufacture of cotton, and added a lucrative and elegant branch of traffic, the lighter and fanciful department of which has become, in some measure, the staple manu facture of Scotland, whilst the more substantial and dura ble fabrics have added to England a manufacture, ir. ferior, in importance and extent, only to the woollen.
The process of manufacture of all these description of cloth, from the raw to the finished or marketable state, mar he idcd into three great stages of maw:, facture.
1st, The preparatory processes which the raw mate rial undergoes to bring it into that state in which it is fit to assume the appearance of cloth, or what is generally understood by the term yarn. For the account which we have to lay before our readers of these operations, we must refer them to the respective articles COTTON, FLAN, SPINNING, WOOL, SILK, &C.
2d, The operations by which the materials are brought from the state of yarn into that of cloth, which is pro perly the subject of this article, but which we can he' e only treat in a general way ; for the different kinds are so numerous and varied, that we must refer much of the peculiarities to the articles which will be found under the respective titles or mines, by which various kinds of cloths or stuffs arc known.
3d, The processes which cloth undergoes, after com ing out of the weavers hands, to fit it for the market ; and which we must also refer to the various articles BLEACHING, DYEING, PRINTING, CA LENDER, GLAZING, and many others.
In general, we may remark, that the great requisites in every species of cloth, from the heaviest to the light est fabrics, arc durability, warmth, and beauty. For those kinds which compose the household furniture and dress of the generality of mankind, the first and second are the most essential ; and for the ornamental kinds, which furnish show and splendour to the drapery of the opulent and luxurious, the latter is almost the only quality ever required.