"The machine possesses another peculiar advantage, by making good papers from pulp which has been beat for a shorter time than that which is used at the vat; and this is one reason that much more work is done in less time. "From the great pressure which the paper receives, it dries very quickly, therefore the proprietor will get his goods round and disposed of much sooner than hitherto; consequently, employ his capital to greater ad vantage. "We engage to deliver in nine months, or sooner if possible, from the day on which the order is received, a machine complete, such as will produce in twelve hours the same quantity of work as five vats. The paper will be without any inark of water drops or water bubbles, and equal in manufacture to that which is made daily in our mills at Two Waters and Frogmoor. We do not engage to deliver the stuff chest, water-wheel, or to bear the expences attending the fall. We further engage to furnish correct plans for the construction of the stuff-chest, water-wheel, and fall, and to point out such workmen as are fully competent to carry these plans into execution. 66 Specimens may be seen, of every substance, quality, and dimensions.” In a mill containing five vats ten men may do the work of thirty, as done at the mills of the former construction. We understand the inventor of this ingenious machinery is a French artist, who not finding sufficient encouragement in his own country came to England, and offered it to the present proprietors. It may, perhaps, be proper to inform our readers, that the French Government, though aware of its utility, would not, or could not, give that pecuniary assistance necessary for the final completion of such an extensive undertaking; as, according to their present system, every thing is sacrificed in that free country to the splendor of the military, the maintenance of the senate, and the public functionaries, and the protection of that immense system of espionnage which pervades every spot of the Great Nation, and which, notwithstanding representaticas to the contrary, Bonaparte has found absolutely necessary for his safety to support, and which swallows up all the resources of the soi-disant republic. In short, commerce and trade there find no encouragement: here they sit enthroned, giving audience to the world." PRINTING-MACHINERY. An ingenious foreigner, a German we believe, has lately submitted to an eminent printer in London a plan by which that part of the printing business which is confined to the press, may be performed without requiring the assistance of more than a boy to each machine, which at present employs two workmen.- The machine is so constructed, that the im‹~ pression of each sheet is invariably the same, the ink being always distributed in equal quantity, and with the greatest nicety, over the face of the type, and thereby is free from those blemishes which, from the carelessness of the workmen, we have hitherto too often met with, even in the best executed works. The plan, we understand, has been submitted to the Imperial printing-office at Vienna, and is about to be adopted there. PRINTING TYPES STRUCK BY MACHINERY. We also learn that an invention for forming the types used in printing, with an accuracy of form superior to any now cast, and at an inconsiderable proportion of the expence, is in progress, under the management of an eminent type-founder in this city. The property is secured by patent, and specimens are expected speedily to appear. The nature of the machine, with its powers, will soon be communicated to the public. HISTORY OF THE ABBE PRIMI, AN ITALIAN ADVENTURER IN THE COURT OF LOUIS XIV. The Abbé Primi was born at Bologna; and was the son of a capmaker. Beside a good figure, he possessed a lively wit, and a determined resolution to make his fortune. With this intention he came into France, and at Lyons took his place in the digence for Paris. One of his fellow-travellers happened to be a man of talent, named Duval, who took a liking to Primi. Among the travellers was one whose person was so offensive, that the others heartily wished to get rid of him. Duval attempted this service, and making use of Primi, after having concerted the scheme together, he inquired of Primi whether any credit might be given to the ru mour current in France, that there were persons in Italy who could foretell what would happen to an individual by only seeing his hand-writing? Primi answered, that although he could not take upon him to affirm the absolute infallibility of this art, yet it was often practised successfully; and that he himself having made tuis kind of study an amusement, had seldom failed of informing persons, from the inspection of their handwriting, what actually had happened, or what would happen to them. Duval appearing somewhat emboldened by the modesty of Primi, shewed him his handwriting. After having carefully examined it, the Italian enumerated, at great length, a variety of extraordinary events, diseases, successions, and gallantries: these Duval acknowledged to be true as to the past, and therefore he trusted in the truth of what was foretold him. The other traveliers also submitted their writing to the inspection of Primi, who related to them what had already befallen them, which they acknowledged, and foretold what awaited them, which they affected to believe. The stinkard, surprised at what he had heard, spurred on by his curiosity, and convinced by the success of Primi, shewed him his hand-writing, intreating his prediction of what awaited him. Primi's countenance fell in perusing it, and he returned the paper saying only, that he hoped he was mistaken." The party so strongly urged further explanation, that Primi at Jength acknowledged, that the journey he was then taking would prove fatal to him, and that he would be assassinated at Paris. Besides being infective, as already mentioned, this man was suspicious and cowardly. He reflected on the predictions he had heard, and fearing to come to an untimely end, he quitted the carriage, and returned to his home. Delighted with the riddance, and the success of the plan, Duval complimented Primi, adding, that his talents could not fail of attaining distinction, if he would follow a course that might be traced out for him. Primi promised docility, and Duval, when arrived at Paris, presented him to the Abbé de la Baume, afterwards Archbishop of d'Embrun, who was a handsome man, with pleasing manners, and a well-cultivated mind. He was also well received among the women, and of very general acquaintance with them, especially with Henrietta of England. The Abbé de la Baume, after several conferences with Primi, perceiving in his cunning, in his boldness, even in his jargon compounded of Italian and French, the materials for imposition, shut him up during six weeks, without suffering him to see any body but the Duke de Vendome, and the GreatPrior of France, his brother, to whom he introduced him. They employed the time of this seclusion in teaching the Italian the genealogies of the principal persons, their connections, friendships, amours, rivalships, hatreds, &c. and when they thought him sufficiently instructed, the Abbé de la Baume reported among his acquaintance that he knew an Italian to whom the past and the future were perfectly well known, merely from a sight of the hand-writing. Men and women, the court and the city, crowded to Primi, and all returned astonished at his answers, believing what he foretold of the future, on the strength of what he revealed of the past. The Countess of Soissons, especially, patronized him, and having a strong inclination to intrigue, it is extremely probable that she entered into this of Primi. Madame of France visited Primi, who related to her with great particularity the events of her life; and even spoke without reserve of her then connections with the Comte de Guiche, which so effectually surprised her, that she described Primi to the King as a most extraordinary man, and pressed his Majesty to send his hand-writing for his opinion. After repeated solicitations, Louis gave a billet appatently of his own writing, which Madame instantly communicated to Primi, who, on seeing it, pronounced it to be the writing of an old miser, of a curmudgeon, of a man, in short, incapable of any thing handsome and becoming. The astonishment of Madame was extreme, at finding her fortune-teller thus mistaken; she took away the billet, assuring him that for once he was completely wrong, but the Italian maintained that he was perfectly correct. Madame gave the billet back to the King, repeating the affirmation of Primi. The monarch was astonished in his turn, and the more, as this billet which he had given as his own writing, was, in fact, the writing of M. le Président Rose, secretary of the cabinet, who so well counterfeited the handwriting of Louis, that the King commis sioned him to answer many things, which answers he intended should pass for his own writing. This Primi knew from M. de Vendome; and, moreover, M. Rose was accused of all the faults with which Primi had charged the writer of the billet. The King, intent on clearing up the mys tery, directed Bontemps, his confidential valet de chambre, to bring the Italian the next day into his cabinet, whom he thus addressed: “ Primi, I have only two words to say your secret-which I will pay for with a pension of two thousand livres or elsehanging!" The pension having more attractions for the Italian than the cord, he diverted the King with the history of his departure from Bologna, his adventure in the Lyons coach, the expulsion of his offensive fellowtraveller, his connections with Duval, those with the Abbé de la Baume, and Messrs. de Vendome, his six weeks seclusion; in short, the whole secret of his preparation, and the various pleasant scenes which his assumed character had opened to him, with whatever else the King desired to know. After this interview with the Italian, the King went to the Queen's apartment, and there reported before the whole court, "After having long resisted the request that I would see Primi, I have at last yielded, and am just come from this extraordinary man, and I must acknowledge, that he has been telling me things which no being of his kind has ever before revealed to any body." All the world perceived in this report of his Majesty additional proofs of the singular powers of Primi; his reputation increased, and with it his expec tations of fortune. The Abbé Primi continued this deception some time: he afterwards attempted to occupy a more serious situation, by writing the h tory of the actions of Louis XIV. Louvois permitted him to accompany the army in the war against the Dutch. He composed the history of the first campaign, which was printed in Italian. This little book is sufficiently ill-written, but is remarkable for detailing too minutely not to be understood the private negociations between Charles II. of England and his sister, concluded by the profoundly secret treaty of Dover, 1670. This transaction had been kept so perfectly, that M. de Croissi, then minister for foreign affairs, no sooner saw this book, than, struck with the novelty, he brought it to the Council. The King affected surprise, sent Primi to the Bastille, seized his papers, &c. This was in July 1682; but in December Primi was released, and at quitting his prison received an ample gratification paid down.Thus did Louis vent his spite against his former intimate, Charles, who was now, by the voice of his people and his parliament, detached from his subjection to the French Monarque. Primi afterwards changed his name, called himself Visconti, Comte de Saint Mayol and Ammonio. Under this name he is mentioned by the poet J. B. Rousseau. He married the daughter of the celebrated printer Frederic Leonard; and lived at Paris. DESCRIPTION OF THE SHAWLS OF CASH- From the French of M. Legoux de Flaix. The wool of the Cashmire sheep, known under the name of touss, is the most beautiful and silky in the world, as is proved by the shawls which are procured from that country. The word shawl expresses a veil for the head, in the idiom of the Cashmirians. This veil is made of wool, which is so very soft that it might easily be mistaken for silk. Cashmire is one of the most agreeably diversified countries on the face of the earth; it is an epitome of all other climates. Those plants which grow between the tropics prosper in the plains and on the sides of the hills in this little province, and those which delight in the northern regions, occupy the mountains which surround it, whose summits are covered with snow during the greater part of the year. By reason of this variety, Cashmire is one of the most prosperous countries of Hindoostan, though that country itself is highly favoured by nature. A sky constantly pure and serene, sparkling nights, continual dews, and innumerable fountains and springs, which stream around, water and fertilize the hills and plains of this delightful region, the city of Sicinagar, situated amid the most fertile fields, presenting delightful prospects in end less variety, all the terraces of the houses forming so many gardens suspended in the air, as history describes those of Semiramis.Such is an imperfect idea of the country. The mountains which surround Cashmire produce spontaneously the most beautiful platanes, with an infinite variety of aromatic vegetables, fit for the food of sheep; they are covered almost all the year long with thyme and marjoram. To such advantages combined, Cashmire owes great part of the superiority of its wool, and the beauty of its flocks. The attention of those who keep these flocks, with certain practices not adopted among us, complete the advantages which nature has begun. The sheep of Cashmire is one of the most beautiful of its kind: the medium length of these animals is about 30 to 40 inches, the height from 20 to 22 inches, the weight about 55 to Colbs. One of the most striking characters of this species is, a small head, lively eyes, the foretop somewhat stiffish, the dewlap long and wrinkled. The lambs are born with their wool crisped, and wreathed, but on the back it is no more than curling, and the same along the spine. Each animal yields, one with another, three seers, of 30 ounces each, of clean wool, for it is never sold till washed; once on the animal before shearing, and again in the manner I shall afterwards describe. The form of this creature, well propor tioned in all its parts, gives it a light, free, and easy gait. From the care taken in rearing it, it derives a vigorous air, a lively and even bold aspect, an established state of health, a coat beautifully white without mixture, in short, a long, fine, silky, and flexible staple. One of the essential and most valuable qualities of the sheep of Cashmire is, its ability to resist heat as well as cold. This province is situated between 32° and 33° of N. latitude, inclosed throughout its whole circumference by a double chain of high mountains, subject equally to the heats of the torrid zone, and the lower degrees of temperature as experienced among ourselves in Europe. But the air of this country is constantly dry. This alteration, some times rapid, from the sultry scorchings of summer to the chills of winter, is in no wise prejudicial to the sheep. This arises, as I have reason to beleve, from the hardness of the cranium in these creatures, and from the usage of never housing them. This effect is generally observed in India; produced, not only in the organization of men, who are constantly bareheaded, and in the habit of very frequently washing with cold water, but also in that of animals of every kind. The sheep of Cashmire are not subject to the vertigo, nor to the fatal distempers which elsewhere occasion and destruction the flocks. I ravages among have made the same observation on the sheep of the pastures of Arcadia and those of Parnassus, which, when kept carefully, with great attention to cleanliness, and associated Like those of Cashmire, are, in many respects, not unlike them. In But another attention of the shepherds of this province, as well as of those of Boutan and Thibet, is to choose the male lamb of the second bearing, to reserve as a ram for breeding. Constant experience has taught them that almost always the rams of this birth are stronger and handsomer than those of the first bearing, and even than those of succeeding births. By following this custom they have improved and strengthened the breeds; and to this care, as well as to that of never mixing their breeds with others of inferior race (like the Arabs, who never debase that race of horses which they call noble), they are beholden for the production of a wool extraordinary fine, white, silky, and long, being commonly, (on the back) from 20 to 22 inches in the staple. The wool of other parts is of the same qualities, but not more than five or six inches in length. wools surpass, in fineness and whiteness, those of the Merino sheep, and even the sheep of Algiers, and those famous breeds of Angora. Whether it be an effect of barbarism, or a mechanical attachment to antiquated habits of the pastoral life, the only occupation of the Tatars, the tendence of sheep, is inore assiduously attended to in Turkey than any other branch of rural economy. The method of folding, and that of breeding, has preserved the beauty of the wool, and prevented the deterioration of the breeds. Cashmire, as in Greece and Spain, the sheep are removed from one district to another, in order to keep them the whole year round in an equal temperature: they pass the winter in the plains, and the summer on the mountains. This advantage is, however, more ready in Cashmire, as they have no long and tiresome journies to perform, because this small province is surrounded on all sides by high mountains. But further, in order to preserve their sheep from the effects of excessive heat in summer, the Cashmirian shep-mily of balisiers, given at times more or less herds are particularly careful to drive their flocks several times in a day through a river or a lake. Never do they croud them in houses, or close dwellings, as if nature had not given them a clothing of fur sufficient to protect them from the inclemency of the sea sons. It is admitted that an atmosphere loaded with moisture is unfavourable to them, but it is also demonstrated, that an impure, and almost mephitic air, which prevails in sheep-pens, closed on all sides, affect these animals with putrid and inflammatory disorders, from which those of Cashmire and of Greece are exempt. The humidity which abounds in the corners and obscurities of buildings and pens, however large they be, say the Hindoos of Cashmire, is much more hurtful, and dangerous too, than any humidity which they might experience from the atmosphere. The experience of ages has proved to the Cashmirian shepherds, that the immediate action of the open air, daily bathings, repeated frequently even during the great heats, frequent rains, and dews, as well as daily removals from place to place, far from being injurious, are really favourable to the health of the flocks, while at the same time they whiten and soften their fleece. These attentions, moreover, produce in the wool a fineness and smoothness; and the rays of the sun whiten them. The sheep are always abroad during the whole winter in Cashmire. In the midst of the snows and frosts of the Mounts Athos and Olympus, the sheep are, in like manner, abroad all the winter. These Sea salt, mixed with the root which is vulgarly called Indian saffron, but by botanists curcuma or terra merita, a plant of the fa distant, according to the season and quality of the pastures, less frequently in winter, and when the season is very cold, more frequently when the weather is very hot, and the atmosphere very damp, is the only means used by the Cashmirian shepherds to prevent diseases among their flocks. A milky plant, named in Hindoostan ardépal, of an extremely bitter taste, is employed by them with the greatest success, given as food to sickly individuals. This useful plant, I have reason to think, would succeed in our climates. It flourishes without culture on the mountains equally as in the plains, in dry soils no less than in wa tery levels. It is of the greatest advantage to cattle of all kinds, but especially to sheep and goats; it is a specific against the itch, by using its juice in the nature of embrocations, against the scab, the swellings, and contagious disorders, to which, indeed, these animals are but little subject. These are given them as food, under such circumstances, with the greatest success. In Cashinire green vegetables are never given to cattle, except creeping thyme, and inarjoram; in the cotes they are fed on the straw of maize, and of jouari, the leaves of which, and the stem also, resemble those of maize, but are more tender. They are also fed on the straw of rice, chopped, with which is mingled a very small quantity of barley, or the seed of jouari. In their journeys care is taken to feed them even on the plains with dry vegetables, and on the mountains with the leaves which they pick off the bushes, In no part of Hindoostan is there a meadow; the Hindoo is convinced, that a single sheaf of rice, of corn, or of any other grain, is preferable to ten, or to a hundred trusses of hay. The fleeces of the Cashmirian sheep are generally in good condition, because the flocks are never led among brakes and brambles, which tear the wool from off the back of the animal. It is a well known fact, that only the white wools take perfectly the delicate and brilliant colours: for this reason they suffer no black or spotted lambs in the flock. They know also, that the longest staples are the best for weaving, and for ensuring the strength of the stuffs when woven, especially for the fabrication of shawls. The general custom of Cashmire is to shear the sheep only once in a year; by this they obtain wool of a greater length and more perfect in its properties. But the shepherds know, that if the wool was suffered to remain any longer on the body of the animal, especially on the females, they could neither suckle their young nor become pregnant. The shearing takes place about fifteen or twenty days after the return of the great heats, that the sheep may sweat, and this sweat may more fully impregnate the wool, thereby becomes more supple. An essential quality of the Cashmirian fleeces is their having no clots. This is a truly valuable quality, since clots are found in the fleeces of both the Spanish and the Barbary sheep. At the period of shearing, the Cashmirian shepherds limit their washings of the sheep to twice a day, and this when even the increasing heats require it more frequently in the morning two hours after sun-rise, in the afternoon when the rays of the sun begin to weaken. They have observed, that washing when the rays of the sun dart vertically on the sheep, renders the wool crisp, less silky, less strong; it impedes transpiration, and subjects the flock to the hazard of receiving a sunstroke, which would produce the vertigo. The wools of Cashmire are divided into two kinds; those from the young of the flock, called avouel, those of the old sheep, called duaume. The fleeces of the lambs under eighteen months or two years are sold separately; the Cashmirians make of them fur trimmings for their cloaks, or adorn their winter bonnets with them. The first of these kinds is not quite so long as the other; it is taken from sheep of two or three years old, when the shearing begins, to those of seven, eight, or nine years. The duaume is the longest wool; it is rather less smooth, silky, and strong. It is employed in manufacturing those cloths called panates, which the English have imitated, and which are known in Europe under the appellation of Cassimere. I have already observed, that before the the shearing the wool is washed upon the animals. The wool from the back is, moreover, separated from that furnished by the belly but before they are sold for use the wools undergo two preparations, by which they are improved. First, they are exposed to the vapour of a slight ley, made of about fifty quarts of water to about ten or twelve pounds of ashes of the leaves of the banana, or of an earth greasy, barren, and white, which is easily reduced to powder: it is called by the Hindoos olé. Then they are washed with the meal of a very small cylindrical bean, greenish in colour, of a sweet taste, and of an agreeable relish, named moungue, and called by botanists mungo. With this meal the shawls themselves are washed in India. This mungo is an excellent food, which is prepared in a thousand different ways. Broth made from it is given to sick people with advantage; it is a febrifuge of no mean powers against fevers of all kinds, but particularly against bilious and putrid fevers. The first of these processes consists in subjecting the wool, during seven or eight hours, to the steam of the ley, in order that it may penetrate the wool which is heaped on it, but not entangled, above the jar or vase of baked earth containing the ley. It is washed in running water, and dried in the open air. The wool being thoroughly dry, the second operation begins. It consists in soaking the wool in an earthen pan, containing fifty quarts of river water, in which is mingled ten or twelve pounds of mungo meal, The water should be luke-warm: the locks of wool are repeatedly rubbed in this liquor, in the same manner as our washerwomen em ploy soap in soaping of linen. After which they are passed through several clear waters, or are rinced in a river or lake, to disengage from them all the glutinous meal with which they have been washed. These labours add greatly to the suppleness and silkiness of the wool, they whitea it and invigorate it, to such a degree, that it will not break or split. The farinaceous paste of the mungo, to use Hindoo language, has also the property of removing the sweat, and, by its mucilage, of softening the wool, and giving it a dead white colour, which is particularly beautiful to the eye, without render. it ng crisp; a property which is not known to belong to any other substance. Soap is injurious to these wools: for which reason those who clean shawls use only the decoction of the fruit of a shrub called kasiékai, which has the property of softening water. This decoction of the kasićkui, which botanists call soap-making, has a pe |