RENTING, in the manufactories, 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.