"had its origin in this parish in 1696 ❝ 1697. The person supposed to "have been bewitched, or tormented "by the agency of evil spirits, or of "those who were in compact with "them, was Christian Shaw *, daugh"ter of John Shaw of Bargarran, then "about eleven years of age. A short "account of this trial may be seen in "Arnot's collection of criminal trials, "Three men and four women were "condemned to death as guilty of the "crime of witchcraft, and were exe"cuted at Paisley. This may furnish "ample matter of speculation to those "whose object it is to trace the progress and variation of manners and opinions among men. The subse quent history of this lady is, however, more interesting to the politi"cal enquirer.

66

use of Indian muslins was adopted by
people of fashion, the thread gauzes
of Paisley being no longer in demand,
numbers of weavers were of course
thrown idie. The consequent reduc-
tion in the rate of labour, induced
other English companies to settle in
Paisley; and in less than twenty years
it became the distinguishing manu-
facture of that place: the traders who
were engaged in it had their weavers
employed in every town and village
of Renfrewshire, and in the villages of
the neighbouring counties to the dis-
tance of twenty miles: they not only
had warehouses in London and Dub-
lin, but employed persons in the city"
of Paris and other great towns on the
continent for selling their goods. In
the year 1781, there were about twen-
ty houses in Paisley engaged in the
silk gauze manufacture, of which
number about one third was from Lon-
don. They employed 5000 looms,
and produced yearly £.850,000 worth
of silk goods. The manufacture of
ribbons and of some other silk fabrics
was introduced in 1772, and was for
Some time carried on to a considera-
ble extent. It is now, however, al-
10ost wholly relinquished; and there are
at present not above a dozen of looms
employed in the manufacture of silk
goods of any description. The intro-
duction of cotton spinning and the
weaving of muslins, directed the at-
tention of our traders to new schemes
of industry, and put an end to the
manufacture of silk gauzes, which
were no longer fashionable.

Before entering upon the cotton manufacture, it may be proper to take notice of another branch of earlier commencement which has been long successfully prosecuted in Paisley, namely, the manufacture of thread; the origin of which is given by the Rev. Dr Young in the Statistical Account of the parish of Erskine. He observes, that

86

"Having acquired a remarkable dexterity in spinning fine yarn, she "conceived the idea of manufacturing "it into thread. Her first attempts "in this way were necessarily on a "small scale. She executed almost every part of the process with her

66

66

own hands, and bleached her ma"terials on a large slate placed in one "of the windows of the house. She "succeeded, however, so well in these essays as to have sufficient encouragement to go on, and to take the "assistance of her younger sisters and "neighbours. The then lady Blan

tyre carried a parcel of her thread "to Bath, and disposed of it advanta66 geously to some manufacturers of "lace, and this was probably the first "thread made in Scotland that had "crossed the Tweed. About this "time a person who was connected "with the family, happening to be in

Holland, found means to learn the "secrets of the thread manufacture, "which was then carried on to great "extent in that country, particularly "the art of sorting or numbering the

*Afterwards married to the Rev. Mr

"One of the last trials for witch"craft which happened in Scotland, Miller, minister of Kilmaurs in Ayrshire.

"threads

exported to Ireland) both at home and in the foreign market. This trade is at present (1812) so very greatly declined at Paisley, that there are not ten thread mills fully employed. The restraints on all commercial pursuits, arising from the circumstances of Europe, materially affect this branch of business. The stagnation is partly owing to the introduction of cotton thread, and partly to the manufacture of ounce thread being much prosecuted in Glasgow and Aberdeen, and in different parts of Ireland: it is boped, however, it will soon regain its usual importance. Within these few years the manufacture of cotton thread has been carried on to considerable extent. It is called wire thread; is prepared by machinery of the most approved construction; the extent is equal to the produce of about thirty mills, fully occupied in making ounce thread; affords employment to about 120 persons, exclusive of the cotton spinners, and it meets with an extensive sale in many parts of the kingdom.

Richard Arkwright had invented his mechanism for carding and spinning cotton, the traders in this part of Scotland directed their attention to the cotton manufacture, which has now become, by far, the greatest and most extended branch of business in this county. Accordingly, about thirty years ago, a number of mills, with powerful machinery for spinning cotton, were erected on the various rivers and streams of Renfrewshire. The earliest of these was upon the water of Levern, at Barrhead, in the parish of Neilston, where a small building, 78 feet long and 28 wide, was completed and filled with spinning machinery, in the year 1780. Soon afterwards, a similar mill, on a more extended plan, was erected at Busby on the river White-Cart, in the parish of Mearns; and in the year 1782, a large mill of six stories, 112 feet long and 31 feet wide, was erected at Johnstone, on the river Black-Cart, in the parish of Paisley, which was the first extensive establishment of that nature in Renfrewshire. In less than twenty years, a number of mills of the same kind, and of different dimensions, were erected on the banks of all the principal streams of this county; so that, on the Levern, White-Cart, Black-Cart, Calder, and Gryfe, there are now nineteen large cotton-mills, and several of less extent, on the smaller streams. Besides these there are in Paisley, Johnstone, and Pollockshaws, many large structures for the same manufacture, the machinery of which is driven by powerful steam engines, on Bolton and Watts' construction: so that the whole number of cotton mills in Renfrewshire, of every size and of every description, exclusive of those which are filling with looms, or are unoccupied, may at present be about forty-one. The introduction of this manufacture, and the capital employed in it, have produced a great addition to the popuCotton Spinning-Soon after Sir lation of the county, and a vast con

The extent of the linen thread manufacture in all its branches for the whole of Scotland in 1784, and its national importance, is accurately given in the communication already mentioned, and coincides nearly with the results of the inquiries made by Mr Arbuthnot, secretary to the trustees for the encouragement of arts and manufactures. The author computes that there are employed for twining ounce thread 200 machines, and for coloured, and other threads, 300 machines: that the quantity of linen yarn used for these manufactures is, 1,080,000 spindles, which, when made into thread, may be valued at £.220,000: and that this manufacture, in all the various operations, from the spinning of the flax to the finishing of the thread, employs upwards of 20,000 women, besides 4000 or 5000

men.

sumpt

sumpt of cotton, from the British colonies, and from North and South America. From careful and accurate calculations it appears, that the cotton mills in Renfrewshire, at present contain 237,000 spindles for spinning yarn known in commerce by the name of mule-yarn, and 28,500 spindles for water twist; that they work into cotton yarn at least 3,850,000 lbs. of cotton wool annually; give employment to 932 men, 2449 women, and 1792 children; and bring to market cotton yarn to the amount of £.630,000.The capital employed in this branch of business within this county is probably not less than £.300,000, vested in buildings and machinery. The kinds of yarn spun are seldom of the finest quality, the value at present being commonly about 4s. per pound. The consumpt of cotton wool at the spinning mills, in this and the neighbouring county of Lanark, is now of such extent, as to have produced a great change on the trade of Clyde; the industry of our manufacturers at home giving a new direction to our foreign traffic. The following statement of the imports of cotton into Clyde at different periods, illustrate this.

bags.

508

lbs.

137,160

In 1775 there
were imported S
In 1790......... 6,509 = 1,757,504
And the a-
verage of
six years
from 1804

to 1810.

31,364 8,468,832
31,3648,468,832*

The wages cotton spinning are;

S.

S.

The time of attendance, is from 6 o'clock in the morning till 7 or 5 in the evening; and, after deducting the intervals allowed for breakfast and dinner, the hours of actual labour are eleven.

In order to show the rapid increase and prodigious amount of the cotton manufactures of this island, Dr Aitken, in his history of Manchester, has given some extracts from a pamphlet published in 1788, the purpose of which was to warn the nation of the bad consequences which would result from the rivalry of the East India cotton goods, which then began to be poured into the markets in increased quantities, and at diminished prices. The author of that pamphlet asserts, that, not above twenty years before the time of his writing, the whole cotton trade of Great Britain die not return £.200,000 a-year to the coun try for the raw materials, combined with the labour of the people; but at the time he wrote, although there were only 114 water mills in Eng. land and nineteen in Scotland, yet the gross return from the raw materials and labour exceeded seven millions sterling. He estimates that those establishments, when in full work, give employment to 110,000 persons; that in all the subsequent stages of the manufacture, the number employed is estimated at 240,000; making an aggregate of 350,000 persons: and the quantity of raw material applied to the different branches of the manufacture he computes at 22,600,000 lbs. But since the year 1788, the cotton manu

of persons employed in facture has increased in, at least, a three or four fold ratio; the quantity of cotton manufactured being probab ly 80,000,000 lbs. the number of per sons employed in all the branches, about one million, and the gross value of the goods made above £.20,000,000.

Men from.........16 to 24
Women from...... 6 to 8
Children from..... 3 to

5

per

week.