a rich kind of stuff, all silk, covered on the outside with a close, short, fine, soft shag, the other side being a very strong close tissue.

The nap or shag, called also the vellvetting, of this stuff, is formed of part of the threads of the warp, which the workman puts on a long narrow-channelled ruler or needle, which he afterwards cuts, by drawing a sharp steel tool along the channel of the needle to the ends of the warp. The principal and best manufactories of velvet are in France and Italy, particularly in Venice, Milan, Florence, Genoa, and Lucca: there are others in Holland, set up by the French refugees; whereof that at Haerlem is the most considerable; but they all come short of the beauty of those in France, and accordingly are sold for 10 or 15 per cent. less. There are even some brought from China; but they are the worst of all.