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Show [ 6o ] Inlays the broider' d weft with flowery dyes, Quick beat the reeds, the pedals fall and rife ; Slow frotn the bea1n the lengths of warp unwind, And da~ce and nod the n1aify weights behind.Taught by her labours, fr01n the fertile foil Imn1ortal Isrs clothed the banks of Nile ; 70 And fair ARACHNE with her rival loom 7 5 Found undeferved a n1elancholy doom.- Five Sifier-nytnphs with dewy fingers twine The beamy flax, and firetch the fibre-line ; Quick eddying threads from rapid fpindles reel, Or whirl with beating foot the dizzy wheel. 8 o -Charm' d round the bufy Fair jive fhepherds prefs, Praife the nice texture of their fi1owy drefs, Admire the Artifis, and the art approve, And tell with honey' d words the tale of love. So now, where Derwent rolls his dulky floods 8 5 Through vaulted mountains, and a night of woods, [ 61 J The Nymph, GossYPIA, treads the velvet fod, And warms with rofy ftniles the watery God; His ponderous oars to f1ender fpindles turns, And pours o'er maify wheels his foatny urns; With playful charms her hoary lover wins, And vvields his trident,-while the Monarch fpins. -Firfi with nice eye emerging Naiads cull Fro1n leathery pods the vegetable wool; Go!Jjpia. 1. 87. Goffypium. The cotton plant. On the river Derwent, near Matlock, in Derbyfhire, Sir RICHARD ARKWRIGHT has erected his curious and magnificent machinery for fpinning cotton, which had been in vain attempted by many ingenious artifls before him. The cotton-wool is firil picked from the pods and feeds by women. It is then carded by cylindrical cards, which move againfl each other, with different velocities. It is taken from thefe by an iron hand or comb, which has a motion fimilar to that of fcratching, and takes the wool off the cards longitudinally in refpect to the fibres or fl:aple, producing a continued line loofely cohering, called the R ove or Roving. This Rove, yet very loofely twifl:ed, is then received or drawn into a whirling cannijler, and is rolled by the centrifugal force in fpirallines within it, being yet too tender for the fpindle. It is then paffed between two pairs of rollers; the fecond pair moving rafter than the firfl elongate the thread with greater equality than can be done by the hand; and is then twifl:cd on fpoles or bobbins. The great fertility of the Cotton-plant in thefe fine flexile threads, while thofe from Flax, Hemp, and Nettles, or from the bark of the Mulberry-tree, require a previous putrefatl:ion of the parenchymatous fubHance, and much mechanical labour, and afterwards bleaching, renders this plant of great importance to the world. And fince Sir Richard Arkwright's ingeniou~ machine Ius not only greatly abbreviated and fimplified the labour and art of carding and fpinning the Cotton-wool, but performs both thefe circumflances beller than can be done by hand, it is probable that the clothing of this fmall feed will become the principal clothing of mankind; though animal wool and filk may be preferable in colder climates, as they arc more imperfect conductors of heat, and are thence a wanner clothing. Emerging Naicds.l . 93· -- eam circum Milefia vellera Nympha: Carpebant, hyali faturo fucata colore. Vir. Georg. IV. 334· |