in a general sense, the plan, order, representation, or construction of a building, book, painting, &c. See ARCHITECTURE, PAINTING, POETRY, ORATORY, HISTORY.

in the manufactories, expresses the figures wherewith the workman enriches his stuff or silk, and which he copies after some painter or eminent draughtsman, as in diaper, damask, and other flowered silk and tapestry, and the like.

In undertaking of such kinds of figured stuffs, it is necessary, says Monf. Savary, that before the first stroke of the shuttle, the whole design be represented on the threads of the warp, we do not mean in colours, but with an infinite number of little packthreads, which, being disposed so as to raise the threads of the warp, let the workmen see, from time to time, what kind of silk is to be put in the eye of the shuttle for woof. This method of preparing the work is called reading the design, and reading the figure, which is performed in the following manner: A paper is provided, considerably broader than the stuff, and of a length proportioned to what is intended to be represented thereon. This they divide lengthwise by as many black lines as there are intended threads in the warp; and cross these lines by others drawn breadthwise, which, with the former, make little equal squares; on the paper thus squared, the draughtsman designs his figures, and heightens them with colours as he sees fit. When the design is finished, a workman reads it, while another lays it on the simblot.

To read the design, is to tell the person who manages the loom the number of squares or threads comprised in the space he is reading, intimating at the same time, whether it is ground or figure. To put what is read on the simblot, is to fasten little strings to the several packthreads, which are to raise the threads named; and this they continue to do till the whole design is read.

Every piece being composed of several repetitions of the same design, when the whole design is drawn, the drawer, to re-begin the design afresh, has nothing to do but to raise the little strings, with flip-knots, to the top of the simblot, which he had let down to the bottom; this he is to repeat as often as is necessary, till the whole be manufactured.

The ribbon-weavers have likewise a design, but far more simple than that now described. It is drawn on paper with lines and squares, representing the threads of the warp and woof. But instead of lines, whereof the figures of the former consist, these are constituted of points only, or dots, placed in certain of the little squares formed by the intersection of the lines. These points mark the threads of the warp that are to be raised, and the spaces left blank denote the threads that are to keep their situation; the rest is managed as in the former.

Design is also used, in Painting, for the first idea of a large work, drawn roughly, and in little, with an intention to be executed and finished in large.

In this sense, it is the simple contour or outlines of the figures intended to be represented, or the lines that terminate and circumscribe them: such design is sometimes drawn in crayons or ink, without any shadows at all; sometimes it is hatched, that is, the shadows are expressed by sensible outlines, usually drawn across each other with the pen, crayon, or graver. Sometimes, again, the shadows are done with the crayon rubbed so as that there do not appear any lines; at other times, the grains or stroke of the crayon appear, as not being rubbed: sometimes the design is washed, that is, the shadows are done with a pencil in Indian ink, or some other liquor; and sometimes the design is coloured, that is, colours are laid on much like those intended for the grand work.

Music, is justly defined by Rousseau to be the invention and the conduct of the subject, the disposition of every part, and the general order of the whole.

It is not sufficient to form beautiful airs, and a legitimate harmony; all these must be connected by a principal subject, to which all the parts of the work relate, and by which they become one. Thus unity ought to prevail in the air, in the movement, in the character, in the harmony, and in the modulation. All these must indispensably relate to one common idea which unites them. The greatest difficulty is, to reconcile the observation of those precepts with an elegant variety, which, if not introduced, renders the whole piece irksome and monotonous. Without question, the musician, as well as the poet and the painter, may risk every thing in favour of this delightful variety; if, under under the pretext of contrasting, they do not endeavour to cheat us with false appearances, and instead of pieces justly and happily planned, present us with a musical minced-meat, composed of little abortive fragments, and of characters so incompatible, that the whole assembled forms a heterogeneous monster.

Non ut placidis coeant immitia, non ut Serpentes avibus geminuntur, tigribus agni.

Translated thus:

But not that nature should revers'd appear; Mix mild with fierce, and gentle with severe; Profane her laws to contradiction's height: Tygers with lambs, with serpents birds unite.

It is therefore in a distribution formed with intelligence and taste, in a just proportion between all the parts, that the perfection of design consists; and it is above all, in this point, that the immortal Pergolese has shewn his judgment and his taste, and has left so far behind him all his competitors. His Stabat Mater, his Orfeo, his Serva Padrona, are, in three different species of composition, three masterpieces of design equally perfect.

This idea of the general design of a work is likewise particularly applicable to every piece of which it consists: thus the composer plans an air, a duet, a chorus, &c. For this purpose, after having invented his subject, he distributes it, according to the rules of a legitimate modulation, into all the parts where it ought to be perceived, in such a proportion, that its impression may not be lost on the minds of the audience; yet that it may never be reiterated in their ears, without the graces of novelty. The composer errs in designing who suffers his subject to be forgot; he is still more culpable who pursues it till it becomes trite and tiresome.