The Arts of Life ... Described in a series of letters ... By the author of Evenings at Home. The second edition. The first letter signed: J. A., i.e. John Aikin, M.D.

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Longman & Company, 1858 - 228 pages

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Page 190 - All things to man's delightful use. The roof Of thickest covert was inwoven shade, Laurel and myrtle, and what higher grew Of firm and fragrant leaf ; on either side Acanthus, and each odorous bushy shrub, Fenced up the verdant wall ; each beauteous flower, Iris all hues, roses and jessamine, Reared high their flourished heads between, and wrought Mosaic ; underfoot the violet, Crocus, and hyacinth, with rich inlay Broidered the ground, more coloured than with stone Of costliest emblem...
Page 218 - One is the multitude of chimneys lately erected, whereas in their young days there were not above two or three, if so many, in most uplandish towns of the realm...
Page 135 - Combs the wide card, and forms the eternal line: Slow, with soft lips, the whirling Can acquires The tender skeins, and wraps in rising spires; With quicken'd pace successive rollers move, And these retain, and those extend the rove; Then fly the spoles, the rapid axles glow, And slowly cireumvolves the labouring wheel below.
Page 135 - First, with nice eye, emerging Naiads cull From leathery pods the vegetable wool ; With wiry teeth revolving cards release The tangled knots, and smooth the ravell'd fleece : Next moves the iron hand with fingers fine, Combs the wide card, and forms th
Page 201 - ... notched at the ends to keep them fast together. The crevices are plaistered with clay or the stiffest earth which can be had, mixed with moss or straw. The roof is either bark or split boards. The chimney a pile of stones; within which a fire is made on the ground, and a hole is left in the roof for the smoke to pass out. Another hole is made in the side of the house for a window, which is occasionally closed with a wooden shutter.
Page 194 - The Fenni live in a state of amazing eavageness and squalid poverty. They are destitute of arms, horses, and settled abodes ; their food is herbs ; their clothing skins ; their bed the ground. Their only dependence is on their arrows, which, for want of iron, are headed with bone ; and the chase is the support of the women as well as the men, who «•ander with them in the pursuit, and claim a share of the prey.
Page 134 - It is taken from these by an iron-hand, or comb, which has a motion similar to that of scratching, and takes the wool off the cards longitudinally in respect to the fibres, or staple, producing a continued line loosely cohering, called the rove or roving. This rove, yet very loosely twisted, is then received or drawn into a...
Page 123 - I have already told you, that weaving may be regarded as a finer kind of matting. To perform it, the threads, which form the length of a piece of cloth, are first disposed in order, and strained by weights to a proper tightness ; and this is called the warp. These threads are divided, by an instrument called a reed, into two sets, each composed of every other thread ; and while, by the working of a treadle, each set is thrown alternately up and down, the cross threads, called the woof or weft, are...
Page 194 - ... in the pursuit, and claim a share of the prey. Nor do they provide any other shelter for their infants from wild beasts and storms than a covering of branches twisted together. This is the resort of youth; this is the receptacle of old age.
Page 84 - He had with him his Gun and a Knife, with a small Horn of Powder, and a few Shot; which being spent, he contrived a way by notching his Knife, to saw the barrel of his Gun into small pieces, wherewith he made Harpoons, Lances, Hooks and a long Knife; heating...

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