construct a machine which should pass between its fingers a
broad belt of leather and a fine thread of wire, prick rows of holes
across the breadth of the leather, bend, cut off, and insert the
shank ends of the teeth clear through these holes, and clinch them
on the back side, and pour out a continuous, uninterrupted stream of
perfectly-teethed belt, all ready for carding,--this, I fancied, was
the ne plus ultra of mechanical inventions. But it is quite
surpassed by the lace-weaving looms of Nottingham, that work out, to
exquisite perfection, all the flowers, leaves, vines and vein-work
of nature. It was wonderful to see the ductility of cotton, as here
exemplified. The _bobbins_, which, I suppose, are a mere refinement
upon the old hand-thrown shuttle, are of brass, about the size of
half-a-crown. A groove that will just admit the thin edge of a
case-knife, is cut into the rim of the little wheel, about one
quarter of an inch deep. A cotton thread, 120 yards in length, and
strong enough to be twitched about and twisted by a score of
vigorous, chattering, iron fingers, is wound around in this groove.
But it would be idle to attempt a description of either the
machinery or the process.

I went next into a large establishment for dyeing, dressing, winding
and packing the lace for market. It was startling to see the acres
of it dyed black for mourning. Really there seemed enough of it to
drape the whole valley of the shadow of death! It was an impressive
sight truly. If there were other establishments doing the same
thing, Nottingham must turn out weeds of grief enough for several
millions of mourning widows, mothers, sisters and daughters in a
year. I ascended into the dressing-room, I think they called it, in
the upper story, where there was a piece containing one twenty-fifth
of an acre of lace undergoing a fearful operation for a human
constitution to sustain. It was necessary that the heat of the
apartment should be kept at _one hundred and twenty_ degrees! There
was a large number of women and girls, and a few men and boys
working under this melting ordeal. And one of the proprietors was
at their head, in a rather summer dress, and with a seethed and
crimson face beaded with hot perspiration. It was a very delicate
and important operation which he had not only to watch with his own
eyes, but to work at with his own hands. I was glad to learn that
he was a staunch Protestant, and did not believe in _p