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6o INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876. notice. With the fashions at present prevailing, there is an extremely- limited application of the arts of design in fabrics destined for per sonal wear. Even the printing of dress goods of wool and mixed materials, which offered a wide field for the application of art, has greatly declined, as the costumes of the present day obtain variety by the use of different hues of plain fabrics. An ample field for the application of art is found in stuffs for furniture, carpets, and hangings for rooms,—the furniture and curtain stuffs of worsted, or worsted and silk. The reps, damasks, and brocades showed the wonderful artistic progress effected by her schools of design and her teachers in practical art, such as Jones, Hulme, Morris, and Dresser. The dis plays of the Royal School of Art Needlework showed that the high est amateur taste of the kingdom is being brought into the service of the decorative arts, furnishing models and stimulus to the practical manufacturers. Through these influences, the designs for decorative fabrics have a style distinctly recognized as that of the “ English school,” in which mediaeval motives are revived, plant-forms are con ventionalized, while the natural treatment of foliage and flowers, and the artificial luxuriance of the Renaissance designs, are equally abjured. In the decoration of furniture stuffs of their own style the English are without rivals. Before proceeding to a sketch of the worsted-manufacture of the United States, which we shall give from purely original inquiries, it will be proper to refer to one of the most important steps in the progress of the worsted-manufacture in this country, to which our own industry owes its importance. All-wool mousselines de laine were perfected in France in 1831. In 1833 a fabric first appeared in France which was a copy of the wool mousselines, with the differ ence that the warps were made of cotton. The English adopted this manufacture, at Bradford, in 1834-35. No event of the cen tury has done more for female comfort and for the industry of wool than the introduction of the cotton warp. Cotton, instead of being the rival, became the most important auxiliary of wool, and has added vastly to its consumption. The generic name of cotton delaines, although now but little used, may be conveniently retained to ex press the whole class of these fabrics. They are practically the same as a woolen fabric, being so covered with wool that the presence of cotton can be observed only by the closest inspection. Their cheap ness and durability make their introduction an invaluable boon to women of moderate means. Their fabrication constitutes the chief feature of the manufacture of the great cities of Bradford, in England, and Roubaix, in France.