RENTERING, in the manufactures, the same with fine-drawing. It consists in sewing two pieces of cloth edge to edge, without doubling them, so that the seam scarcely appears; and hence it is denominated fine drawing. It is a French word meaning the same thing, and is derived from the Latin retrahere, of re, in, and trahere, because the seam is drawn in or covered. We are told, that in the East Indies, if a piece of fine muslin be torn and afterwards mended by the fine drawers, it will be impossible to discover where the rent was. In this country the dexterity of the fine drawers is not so great as that of those in the east; but it is still such as to enable them to defraud the revenue, by sewing a head or slip of English cloth on a piece of Dutch, Spanish, or other foreign cloth; or a slip of foreign cloth on a piece of English, so as to pass the whole as of a piece, and by that means avoid the duties, penalties, &c. The trick was discovered in France by M. Savary.